A Change of Heart
by Truth-of-a-Thousand-Lies
Summary: Sixteen ninja were asked to come and protect Hogwarts. It began as a mission and only that,but it ended as a battle to the death, for dignity, for honor, for friends. And even those they hated most sided with them in the end, for justice, for the truth.
1. Mission Stats

Me: Everything in italics is thought, exaggerated words are bold. Underline is obvious… though if in a normal sentence and you see an italicized word; it probably has some significance to the story and was still said. There will be no author's notes until the end.

Disclaimer: No I don't own Naruto or Harry Potter. I own the plot line… which at this point is going to seem cliché. But the story has its twists, so bear with me the first couple chapters. No pairings unless requested, so please review.

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**Chapter 1**

Harry stared at the Umbrige blankly. He still couldn't fully comprehend how he could even stand looking at such an ugly, toad like woman. The more he looked, the more explicit the features came to be. He shuddered. The woman had an angry look on her face and he could swear he saw the warts on her face enlarge and grow hairs. A disgusted feeling overtook him, but he managed to keep from saying ew. Harry was barely able to keep his dazed and confused blank look as his mental image of her toad like face became ever so animated and funny. At this point he was resisting the immense urge to laugh.

"Don't stare at me like that!!" The woman's toad like voice barked, or sounded more like a hiccup from a frog. His eyes went down to her plump body that looked much like a squished doughnut with two soggy ice cream cones that have been badly squished beneath her weight and pig lard for arms. Of course the scent of her perfume would numb one's senses, and the intensive jewelry fit her style like the eccentric crabby old lady she was.

_One day, _Harry thought, _someone should show her her rightful place. Make her realize she's not as high and mighty as she thinks she is. Kill that stupid ego of hers._

"Sorry…" Harry managed to say.

"Sorry … **what," **she exaggerated on the last word said.

"Ma'am…" came his dutiful response. _Toad whore, _he smirked to himself inwardly.

After a moment of an evil and what she thought was an over powering stare, she briskly walked past him. Well what you would call brisk for an overly fat and extremely short woman with anger management problems who probably needs a psychologist. Fast. After a small lingering moment, Harry realized he had to follow her. She seemed to be…well running to keep up his slow steady pace. They way she twisted around the corridors that seemingly led to nowhere made Harry snort a couple of times. He fell behind just so that he could watch her wiggle her way through the intricate stone corridors. Every now and then a snort would be too loud, so when she'd turn around, he'd pretend to have a coughing fit. In the end, they found themselves standing in front of the great hall. Umbrige stopped to look around, obviously searching for something. However Harry was smarter than to try to speak up and ask what that object was. He just aimlessly looked around, pretending to be helping her. Finally, she found a key, which Harry deduced was as heavy as it was big and was slightly stumped at the fact that she actually searched for it when it was right in front of the Great Hall doors the entire time. Then again, this was Umbrige.

"This is a portkey, Potter," she said matter-of-factly. Harry smirked, _No shit really._

"We are we going, ma'am," he tried to be respectful as possible, his glass green eyes boring questioningly into her own.

"Actually, I really don't know. Dumbledore wouldn't say…" and with that both grasped the portkey and held onto it for dear life as they were warped into another dimension, and were violently thrust back into their own.

------------ Couple days earlier, Konohagakure, Hokage's office -------------

The room was filled with fifteen ANBU black ops, a Kazekage, a Hokage and her lovely assistant Shizune. TonTon always made her presence known by oinking happily.

"Remove masks1" Tsunade ordered. At once all fourteen ninjas removed their masks revealing their faces. In order from left to right, Tsunade called attendance.

"From Suna, Kazekage-sama, Gaara!" She looked up and received a nod.

"Temari!" she barked.

"Hai!" came a short and curt answer.

"Kankurou!"

"Hai hai," the answer held a tinge of laziness to it.

"Team Seven!" Sasuke, who was finally back, Naruto and Sakura were still referred to that. However, Sai was also now part of the team. All four answered in unison. So did the other teams. They kept their original three man cells because they operated best in them, and because during role call, it made things a hell lot easier.

"Team Eight!"

"Present!" TenTen's voice sounded, a smirk Neji's lips formed followed with a "Yeah, I'm here," Next to him, Lee screamed a very energetic, "YOSHI!"

"Team Nine!"

Ino answered, "We're all here Hokage-same," her voice a little strained as she tried waking Shikamaru who was next to her. However, he was leaning against the wall, hands in pockets, his high pine apple pony tail serving as a pillow as he slowly dozed off. Next to the sleeper was Chouji, who as usual was munching on chips. Tsunade sighed and rubbed her temples.

"Alright, last but not least, Team Ten…" for some reason, Tsunade's eagerness about the entire situation drained when she saw Lee's over enthusiasm, Shikamaru's extreme lack of enthusiasm, and Chouji deliberate and focused eating.

"H-hai…" a shy reply came from Hinata.

"Bark!" Akamaru answered for Kiba who just grinned widely.

"Here…" a dead cold voice answered through the fabric of the jacket that hid half of Shino's face. The other half was covered by his hood and dark glasses.

"Okay, well. You are all ANBU black ops. Since there are what…sixteen of you…," she said, counting the Kazekage as well, who reluctantly agreed to go on this mission, "You will be cut up into four platoons."

A curt nod followed by those who were listening except for a snore, another yell of "YOOOSHII!!!" and a bark.

Sakura raised her hand slightly, "Tsunade-senpai?"

Tsunade turned her head towards the pink haired girl tiredly, "Yeah?" The blonde Hokage blinked sleep from her eyes.

"What's the mission exactly? Why do so many of us have to go…doesn't that like leave Konoha unprotected?" She voiced her reasonable concern.

"No…we still have all the ANBU, regular and black ops, and all the jounins, chunnins, and genins…" she said with great ease, "With Orochimaru dead and Pein defeated and most of the Akatsuki killed, I doubt that anything will arise over the next year." Tsunade was either really sleepy and just couldn't care less at this point, or was really drunk.

"And by the way, this mission is a year long, but it pays a hefty price. I don't think it will even be that hard…"

Sakura bowed slightly to show her understanding, but she mostly bowed out of respect for her senpai, "Hai."

"Any questions?" When no one answered, Tsunade proceeded to stifle a yawn as she rearranged papers on her messy desk, "Meet at the third training grounds in two days for a full mission report. Since the Kazekage is going, he's in charge. Just…FYI…" another yawn.

A couple of them winced. Tsunade abbreviating anything means that she really wanted them out of her office…fast; or that she was dead tired and couldn't care less for formalities. The latter was proven when her head forcefully fell against the table causing a couple papers to go flying.

"Damn Shikamaru…he spreads his sleeping disease…like a fucking…," yawn, "epidemic…"

And the Hokage was fast asleep. The sixteen ninja looked at each other, shrugged, and vanished in a swirl of black leaves.

------------------------------------- Back in Present Time. Training Grounds 3. Everyone, Including Umbrige and the Naruto gang are present ------------------------------------

"ALRIGHT YOU MINIONS!" Tsunade screamed. Immediately everyone's undivided attention was on the busty, young and gorgeous looking woman. Harry looked at her wide eyed. She was something else. A couple of the sixteen masked men and women chuckled. They received a death glare.

Harry noticed Umbrige flinched a little when Tsunade screamed, but tried to retain her composure, and still look her high and mighty self. Truly, it was repulsing.

"YOU HAVE GATHERED HERE TODAY TO GET YOUR DUTY SHEETS, REPORTS, AND FULL INFORMATION ABOUT THE YEAR LONG MISSION YOU'RE ABOUT TO UNDERTAKE!" The sixteen masked people seemed to wince in auditory pain.

"Anno…" One of them raised their hand reluctantly… "There's no need to scream, we're all right here…" he, Harry judged by the voice, stated the obvious.

"Ah, yes," The woman's voice calmed, and she turned to Harry, "Harry, please come here."

Umbrige pushed him forcefully and Harry looked at her, trying to see if he could blow her head up just by looking at it like they did in Star Wars.

_One of these days, I swear… BOOM!_

He approached the woman who put her hand around him.

"This here is Harry Potter, a boy famous for surviving a killing curse." She started to explain…but then realized she hadn't told her fellow ninjas what magic was.

"Oh but before I begin; There is a race of people who have developed their use of chakra like we have. Just that they need something to amplify the chakra, and create a certain jutsu of their own. Much like we do with seals. Except we don't amplify our jutsus with anything. So think of them as a race of low class ninjas with no ninjutsu abilities. This … race… if you will is called Wizards. They practice what is known as Witchcraft and Wizardry to get better at their failures of attempts to channel chakra. Once you arrive to your destination, you will be given these chakra amplifiers known commonly as wands. Once you have a wand, think of yourselves as invincible… which as Black Ops, you already are. At least among them."

The ninjas seemed to listen closely, Harry realized. He just wasn't all too happy about the woman calling them a low class of ninjas. Or failures at that. He looked at his Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher and noticed her discontent as well. However, they were in no position to say anything to contradict the woman because both knew full well she was right. They just weren't comfortable with they way she phrased it.

"MASKS OFF!" she ordered to the masked men and women who stood in a perfect line. In utmost synchronization, from left to right, they took their masks off one by one, the next following less than a fraction before the one before.

"Kazekage-sama," she said politely to a red headed boy who stood at the very end at the left side, "Hajimete kudasai." This, Harry didn't understand, but understood in context because the redheaded boy began.

"My name is Sabaku no Gaara. I'm the Kazekage, or the strongest ninja of the Hidden Village in the Sand. I lead the country, much like the Minister of Magic does with the Wizarding World."

"Except all he really does is sign a bunch of paper from morning 'til night," a blonde girl who stood directly on his right said as she made a jokingly cute face. Gaara smirked in annoyance, but said nothing. "I'm Temari! His older sister." She gave a smile to Harry and as she looked over at Umbrige, the smile tensed and wavered, then fell.

"Kankurou, his older brother," The boy with purple facial make up said.

Then three of the ninjas took a step forward, however the pink haired girl was the only one that spoke.

"My name is Haruno Sakura, and these are my teammates, Uchiha Sasuke…and Uzumaki Naruto and Sai," Sakura leaned forward to point at each one of them. Sasuke 'hn'ed and Naruto grinned. Harry reluctantly grinned back. The three then retreated. Three more came forward.

"Hello," a brunette spoke. She looked very tomboyish and her long hair was twisted into two buns onto the top of her head. She gave him a warm smile, "My name is TenTen, and these are my two teammates, Hyuuga Neji and ..." TenTen paused because the boy with the fuzzy eyebrows or **eyebrow **and the bowl cut hairdo did some weird air trick and landed gracefully, then introduced himself.

"ROCK LEE!!..." after that it was just a lot of words about the fountain of youth and the springs of something or another. Whatever the boy said wasn't really important. It was the reaction of his two teammates that slowly scooted away from him that made Harry laugh. The boy was overly enthusiastic. Harry bet that if someone asked him to run five hundred laps on his hands, the boy would obey. He didn't realize however, that he was spot on. A moment later, as Harry's eyes diverted from Rock to inspect Hyuuga, his eyes widened. He realized that Hyuuga's eyes were lavender with no pupils and wondered for a moment if he was blind. The boy shot him a look and Harry realized he wasn't…but his eyes were one scary thing to look at. By now he also picked up that only the girls in the three man teams spoke.

The next trio, "My name is Ino," a gorgeous blonde said. She too had no pupils. Her eyes were light blue in the middle and darker blue around the edges, "This is Akimichi Chouji," she gave a nervous laugh as the boy continued munching on his potato chips. He did however raise a hand in acknowledgement. Ino then paused as she watched Shikamaru fall to the floor and mumble… 'clouds', "And that guy's Nara Shikamaru."

Harry interjected, "Wait…does your first name go first…or?" After hearing Rock, Nara, and Akimichi, he was certain those couldn't be their first names. Unless their parents hated them of course.

"Last name first, then real name," Ino politely answered his question.

Harry then went back to the beginning to see if he still remembered, "Gaaura, Temaari, Kankuuro, Sakuura, Saucegay, Naruuto, Say, umm, TenTen, Negi, Lee, Ino, Shiikamaruu, and Shogi…"

The ninjas winced. "Work on your pronunciation, please," Neji said appalled.

"Heh, sorry, I'm not used to Japanese names." He again received a nod.

The last trio stepped forward.

A girl that looked a lot like Neji just with blueberry hair said in a quiet shy voice, "H-hi. My n-name is Hi-Hinata, Hyuuga Hi-Hinata…" however she was then cut off by the boy to her right.

"Hyuuga Hinata," he pointed to her, "Inuzuka Kiba," to himself, and then to the last guy at the right who seemed to look like one of those guys from Terminator 3, "Aburame Shino."

Hinata gave a small surprised yelp, and blushed, but let Kiba finish.

"Well, I'm Harry Potter," Harry said, "and the woman behind me is a professor at my school, and a secretary to the Minister of Magic. Her name is Prof. Umbrige."

Umbrige finally gave a curt nod and then excused herself saying she needed to use the bathroom. Tsunade gave a head motion and TenTen jumped out of the group and landed next to her. Once they were out of ear shot, Harry added, "Actually I forgot her first name… I just call her Toad Face." The ninjas burst out laughing, Tsunade included.

------------------------------Somewhere in Konoha -------------------------------------------

"NO!" the short crabby woman screamed defiantly, "I WILL NOT USE THIS PREPOSTEROUS EXCUSE FOR A BATHROOM! IT'S FILTHY!"

TenTen just stared at her dubiously. After a moment of staring she asked, "Well, where do you want to go then? The King's bathroom? A golden toilet? Well listen lady," Umbrige managed to piss TenTen off whose eyes now resembled Lee's, burning with fire, except out of anger, not weird enthusiasm, "And you listen well. This isn't some elite high class city for the rich and famous. This is a village to train some of the best ninjas alive. The reason the conditions are bad is to teach us that life isn't served to you on a silver platter. Once we achieve high status, and our families create their own kekki-genkais, then we can live in mansions and poo in golden toilets. By that time, we already have killed thousands of people mercilessly upon order. And I swear lady, you're next in my book!"

Umbrige gulped, but her face hardened once more, "Such obscene kids! I'll make sure that you are relieved of your duty as soon as possible. We don't need trash like you guarding our school."

"You do realize you are below us in power and charka evolution. You're as pureblood in your world as Rock Lee is to using genjutsu or ninjutsu," At this point, the weapons mistress was ready to kill her. No pun intended.

Umbrige sniffed a couple of times and raised an eyebrow. Inwardly she was at a loss for what a couple of the words meant, so she couldn't plan any more insults to throw back. However, her face stayed firm and menacing, and TenTen just found her despicable. TenTen pointed to the public bathroom, "GO!" and after a moment of deliberation, the old crabby and ugly lady walked into the toilet.

--------------------------- Training Grounds Three – The Mission Information, Report, and Duty List --------------------------

On their way back, TenTen was considering stopping to buy hundreds of pairs of ear plugs just so she and her friends, and possibly other irritated students at that school wouldn't have to listen to her whine. '_But this… but that…ooohh… I'm the high majesty of the world, you can't treat me this way,' _TenTen mimicked in her head, '_Hell yeah I can!' _She thought to herself angrily. The moment the others were in sight, TenTen disappeared from Umbrige's side and reappeared with her teammates. Angry, pissed off.

Finally, when everybody was there, Tsuande proceeded to hand out papers, and envelopes. Once everyone got theirs, she explained what they were, "Alright filthy earthlings," this time Tsunade received a glare, "This is a list of the school supplies you need to buy once you get to Diagon Alley. It's a little wizarding town where you can get everything and anything. Harry and his friends will show you around. I suggest though, while shopping, break up into groups. It's a little weird seeing twenty people shuffle in and out of stores together. The envelope is the formal invitation to become a student at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. That's the school you will be guarding. You will mingle in with the students. That way you have every access pass they do and can keep a close eye on them all the time. School rules do apply, however you are free to roam into every single room in the castle, while for example to the students the Third Floor is off limits. Likewise you're allowed to go into the Forbidden Forest to train while even to the oldest kids, that forest is off."

"Um, Tsunaadey," Umbrige interrupted. The Hokage's head snapped into her direction and her brilliant brown eyes narrowed, the purple diamond on her forehead glinting.

"Princess Hokage-sama to you," Tsunade snarled.

"Yes, um Hokaagey-suma," this bad pronunciation received a groan from a couple of the ninjas. TenTen who was still ticked off muttered under her breath, "Pronunciation issues," in a sarcastic tone, "Guess that's another thing to add to all the things that make her repulsive." Neji snickered.

"What is it? You're wasting my time, get on with it," Tsunade snapped her fingers.

"Yes, um, well actually you are wrong. By the order of the Ministry of Magic, these new … gaurds… aren't allowed any special privileges." Umbrige's tone of voice made Harry groan who was so far so wrapped up in the conversation that by now, until Umbrige made her stupid remark, he was staring up in awe at the tall busty gorgeous woman who was giving orders to the ninjas. However when he snapped back into reality, he made a terribly annoyed expression and balled his fists. TenTen looked at him knowingly. Though not as annoyed, everyone stared at her with an expression that read, "Oh really… watch us!"

Tsunade raised an eyebrow, "Eh?" A small chuckle followed. Umbrige shit her pants and was sweating profusely. For some reason, under Tsunade's glare, she felt worthless and dropped her irritating high self set status.

"Let me inform you of something," Tsunade said licking her lips in an exasperated fashion, "With one flick of a finger I could kill that minister of yours. When your** world** hired us, we were allowed to set the rules of what we could and couldn't do and how we would carry out this mission so no one died. It's like a small village asking the Kingdom for help. The chief of the village gets no say in what the army of the king does. Capish?"

Umbrige nodded in a quick manner and gave a small nervous laugh. Tsunade heaved a sigh and then she thought of something, "You bored, Harry?"

"Um, I'm kind of hungry actually. Didn't really have breakfast this morning," he said sheepishly then shot an angry look at Umbrige.

"Naruto! Sasuke! Sakura!" Tsunade said. Naruto took off his backpack, and took out a cup of miso ramen. He handed it to Sasuke, who sent a surge of blue lighting through it. Sasuke handed it to Sakura who opened it for Harry and handed him chopsticks. Harry stared in wonder and amazement at the team and took the cup and chopsticks gratefully from Sakura. Before he completely took it, he received a small burn from how hot it was. However the pink haired girl looked at him for a moment, then giggled. The temperature wasn't bothering her at all.

Sasuke looked over at them, "What, too hot?" Sakura nodded and a thin layer of ice formed on the outside of the cup. The heat of the cup then melted away the ice and though still hot, it was bearable to hold. Harry took it gratefully and sat on the ground against one of the three wood stumps.

Tsunade then continued, "Okay. To split you up into platoons here, I'll cut up the Sand team and keep the original groups."

Harry, after he finished slurping away at some noodles said, "Sorry, your Highness," and Tsunade looked down at him.

"What is the miso ramen not good?" She asked a little worried Sasuke over heated and burned it.

"No, no, the ramen is great. It's just that, well as a student, I think I should advise you on how to split the groups. We have four houses there. For example, Sasuke and Gaara look menacing and evil so they would probably go into Slytherin. Naruto and Sakura would probably go into Gryffindor because they're loyal and brave. Shikamaru looks a little lazy but really smart, so he'd go into Ravenclaw. Do you see what I'm saying? Oh and by the way, those were total guesses."

_Hmm, _Tsunade thought, _the boy does have a point. And he was right about them all, too._

"Alright then," Four really evil and cunning people, come here!" she tapped her foot on the ground and created instantly a small dent. Harry's eyes widened as he realized Tsunade was insanely and inhumanely strong. Sasuke, Gaara, and Shino immediately walked over. True, Shino wasn't evil or anything, but he had a cold personality that would fit Slytherin quite well.

"I need a girl here," the Hokage announced. She looked at everyone who was perfectly still, waiting to get called on, when she noticed Ino was silently trying to strangle Chouji because he just wouldn't stop eating. With a smile, the blonde granny called on her, "Ino! Slytherin!" Ino looked at her in surprise but joined Sasuke, Gaara and Shino still evily glaring at her teammate.

"Great! Now here!" Another dent. "Four brave and loyal people!"

Sakura, Naruto, Kiba and Chouji instantly circled.

"Smart and cunning I guess in a good way!" Tsunade's explanation of Ravenclaw nearly made Harry choke on his food as he stifled a laugh.

Shikamaru, Temari, Kankuro and Neji formed around the third dent.

The four obvious for Hufflepuff were left, Sai TenTen, Hinata and Lee. They weren't exactly perfect matches, but someone had to go there.

"Great! Platoons created!" They ninjas now reformed and stood in squares. Four squares, two by two.

"Your mission is to keep this school safe from a guy named Voldemort and his subordinates, the Death Eaters. Harry is the one who's most at trouble because Voldemort's only goal is to kill Harry…" After main mission details were given and Tsunade elapsed to talk to each platoon quietly about certain small details they were to take care of, such as spying in Slytherin and research in Ravenclaw, Harry got up and went to talk to the Gryffindor team. Sakura, Naruto, Kiba and Chouji had just received their special mission orders and significant details.

"H-hi?" Harry said unsurely.

Sakura giggled, "Hey!"

Naruto raised a hand, "Oi!"

Chouji just kept eating.

"Um, I have a question?" His bottle green eyes bore into her own jade ones.

The girl nodded, never dropping the warm smile that adorned her face.

"Why is your hair pink?"

"Heh, I don't know, my mother has pink hair as well. My name translated into English would be Spring's Cherry Blossom. If Sakura's too hard for you to pronounce you can call me Cherry.

"Ah," he said as realization to some level spread over his face, "It's just a genetic trait though?"

"Mh!" the girl nodded in approval.

"Why do those Hyuuga kids, brother and sister right?" he cut his sentence short to make sure they were brother and sister.

"No, those two are cousins," Sakura corrected.

"Ah, well why do they have lavender eyes with no pupils?"

"Their bloodline limit or kekkai-genkai is called the Byakugan. It allows them to see 360 degrees normally, and when it's activated, they see chakra points on a person's body, the flow of chakra within a body, and can see through solid objects and up to 50 kilometers away. Sometimes, when they really want to, they can see over a 100. Of course, and with the Byakugan eye comes special fighting techniques only the Hyuuga family can use like the Gentle Fist." Sakura gave an explanation. In his hand, Harry held the half finished ramen cup. While Sakura explained to him about the Hyuugas, even though he was intently listening, he still could feel Naruto eying the cup.

"You want it?" Harry asked offering him the rest, "I couldn't finish everything. It's really good though."

A look of extreme happiness overcame Naruto and he took the ramen from Harry gratefully and began eating.

"What about the blonde girl?" Harry had already forgotten her name, "She has no pupils either."

"Her family's bloodline limit is the Body Transfer technique. She can move her soul into other people's bodies and take control over them. She can also manipulate other bodies by creating what's called a soul clone and transferring them to different bodies. At once, she can see what her clones do and control all the bodies. Her eyes have no pupils because the body she was born in doesn't necessarily mean she has to stay in it forever. Technically, the Yamanaka powers are sealed. If unsealed, they could create a family of ninjas that would literally dominate the world. At this point, Ino's powers are sealed. Within the Yamanaka family, it's a taboo to unseal your powers. If you do, you are immediately killed. But to stay in a different body forever, or basically become immortal, they would have to unseal their powers. Even the most experienced Yamanaka member has a limit of up to 74 hours inside someone else's body. Then they get thrust back into their own by default."

"Wow, you guys seem so amazing!!" Harry said, completely awed, "What about you, Cherry?"

"Well, me, I've trained under Tsunade-sama for five years now, and am the second best medical ninja in the whole of the five ninja countries, Tsunade sama being the first. Also I inherited her insanely inhuman strength. A flick of the finger and you're in the ground creating a huge hole as you torpedo backwards 100 miles an hours." A smile spread across her face as she saw Harry's jaw drop.

"What about Naruto!?"

However, Sakura went silent.

Harry's eagerness to learn more about the ninjas' powers suddenly faded as Sakura didn't continue to tell him about Naruto. Naruto then stood up himself and he said, "It's complicated. I'm sure you'd understand, just not sure how much you want to hear."

Harry stared at him confused as he saw Sakura look up at him, sorrow and guilt washing over her face as she sympathetically laid a hand on his chest. Naruto gave a reassuring smile to her and turned back to Harry.

"Maybe I'll tell you sometime during our stay in Hogwarts. Gaara and I have the same problem, just different abilities." Naruto walked past Harry to go throw away four empty cartons of ramen.

"Problem?" He looked back at Sakura questioningly, "If he has a problem then how can he have abilities?"

Sakura sighed, "Take Gaara for example. His father sealed the sand demon into him before he was even born. What his father wanted was to create the strongest ninja. However that experiment killed Gaara's mother at birth. The demon would get out of control so people hated Gaara, shunned him, and his father would send people to assassinate him before he grew strong enough to kill them. But Gaara killed anyway. His ability because of the demon is to control sand. Sounds stupid, but Gaara killed armies before with a single move of the hand. Drowned them in waves of sand, then tightened the sand, crushing them, every bone in their bodies. Then the sand would absorb them and the demon inside of Gaara would eat them."

Harry's mouth dropped open and Sakura reluctantly continued, "Naruto's story's pretty much the same. Except he has the Nine Tailed Fox Demon sealed within him. Had pretty much the same childhood as Gaara, but he however, has different abilities. We'll show you sometime during our stay at Hogwarts."

Harry just nodded. These ninjas seemed cool and they were all the same age as him. They'd make pretty good friends once the tensions have settled down, and formalities were done with.

"NINJAS!" Tsunade called out and the platoons regrouped, "PACK! Meet back here in TWO HOURS SHARP!" and with a wave of her hand, the ninjas were gone. Just like that; vanished.

-------------------------------------- 2 Hours Later -------------------------------------------------

The ninjas arrived one by one. While waiting, Harry and Umbrige got a tour of Konoha from a white haired Jounin (former ANBU Black op) called Kakashi. Harry watched the teachers, or former teacher say goodbye to their students, and the exchange between the long white haired grandpa and Naruto was the funniest. The creepiest was the one between Lee and a guy that looked like him only twice his age, Gai. A sunset moment to which both Neji and TenTen sweatdropped to and then moved away. TenTen mouthed to Harry, "We don't know them! We swear!" and Harry just shook his head and laughed.

The ninjas only had backpacks, but were still getting settled and ready when the teachers finally left. Sakura approached Harry from behind, startling him.

"Oh, sorry," she apologized, "But do you think you could sometimes show us what you wizards can do?"

Harry laughed, "Yeah sure, minute we get back to school! We start school in about a week, but I spent the last month there because of some security issues. While school is out of session, and until we're of age, meaning eighteen, we can't use magic outside school grounds. Now the Gryffindor platoon is going back with me to my friend's house. We aren't going back to school. Maybe his mother or his two brothers that already graduated can show you some stuff."

Sakura nodded, "Oh and where are the rest going?"

"Well, a friend from Ravenclaw, Luna Lovegood, agreed to host the Ravenclaw. Draco Malfoy, my archenemy from Slythering, and his family are being so kind as to host the Slytherin platoon in their huge home. However, because they're working for Voldemort, they don't know that you guys are ninjas and protecting the school, so let's keep it that way. They currently think they're hosting four exchange students from Japan. Um and Susan Bones, a girl from Hufflepuff is taking in Hinata, Sai and them."

"Ah," came a small reply from Sakura.

"Alright everyone! Listen to Umbrige for a moment!" Tsunade called everyone's attention. Everyone's head turned to the fat, short, crabby old woman, and a small growl was heard from TenTen.

"Well, let's all touch this table. In two minutes we will be transported to King's Cross Station in London England where your appropriate host families will take you. School begins September 3 so please buy your books and supplies by then. Everyone hold tight now!!" her high pitched, squeaky voice was highly annoying, and everyone was glad when she shut up. A sickening feeling, then nothing.

**A/N: Hope you liked. Please Review. Means a lot to me.**


	2. Host Families

**A/N: 1000 Y is around 10 dollars. 10000 Y is 100 dollars. So 60 thousand Y is 600 dollars. Oh, I will mention that Hinata likes Naruto, however there will be no romance between them. If there is any romance at all in this story it'll be vague. Oh and I hope my chapters aren't too long or too boring. **

**Chapter 2**

Moments later, a heap of sixteen people, dressed in their usual outfits fell on top of one another. Harry and Umbrige were the only ones to be able to avoid the fiasco. They got up, grumbling, and took a look around. Witches and wizards walked around, changing shapes, figures, flying oracles and other things caught everyone's attention. The station was busy and pretty enchanting to look at. When everyone got up and dusted off, they got into their groups and awaited further orders. A blonde haired kid with slate grey eyes approached the ninjas.

"Hello Professor!" the kid said to Umbrige, who said hello back and pointed to the group of ninjas and told him that they were transfer students. After a moment of small talk, Umbrige said she had something important to attend to, and left. The blonde kid then approached the group.

"And you're the transfer students from Japan right?" he asked with a posh tone that lightly suggested he was better than them. He received a nod, "Alright well then, which four of you are with me?" Gaara, Sasuke, Shino and Ino stepped out forward. Once again, only Ino spoke.

"We are."

"Oh good, Mother will be happy that the girl staying with us has pale blond hair and blue eyes…" he gave her a small smile.

Ino forced a smile, too, "Should we get going?"

"Ah yes, take your bags and follow me," the boy replied before turning on his heels and walking away. Ino looked at him from head to toe. An expensive looking cape lined with green hung loosely to him. His shoes looked to be around 60,000 Yen at least. The pants, the shirt, everything about the boy, even his cologne, smelled like cash. Ino huffed. _Great, we got stuck with an asshole who thinks the money is the answer to world issues. Hurray._

She nodded her head for the boys to come and they followed right behind her, but a good ten meters behind the boy. After a couple minutes of walking, they came to see a woman that looked like an older version of Ino with her hair down. She wore a beautiful emerald green dress and expensive jewelry. Her pose was that of a noble. Head held high, shoulders back. Ino couldn't see her shoes beneath the green velvet dress that elegantly touched the floor. Next to her was most likely the boy's father, who also had long blond hair, slicked back off his forehead, and was dressed in a similar fashion to his son. What differentiated the son and father was obvious age markings on the face, hair length and the cane the man held that had the head of a snake. The snake's head, Ino deduced from the glow of the metal, was silver.

"My name is Lucius Malfoy," The man kindly introduced himself. It wasn't as kind as it was diplomatic and polite. He gave a curt nod and a fake smile, his grey eyes not letting through an ounce of emotion. Ino swore he looked like one of those evil men who laughed on the inside at you while their eyes were filled with hate. Then again, he might be. Mr. Malfoy introduced his wife who also gave a polite smile and held her gloved hand out to Ino.

"This is my wife, Narcissa Malfoy, and that is our son, whom you've already met, Draco Malfoy."

Ino shook the woman's hand and returned the polite smile, "My name is Yamanaka Ino." She let go of Narcissa's hand and nudged Sasuke with her elbow.

"Uchiha Sasuke." His voice was cold, his eyes void of emotion.

"Gaara of the Desert," Likewise, Gaara's voice was icy, arms crossed against his chest, his sea green eyes piercing.

"Aburame Shino," Shino's voice sounded just like the two boys before him, except his face was completely covered.

"Well, nice to meet you all." Lucius put his hands together. His eyes wavered a little as he eyed each of the four individually. Slight discontent at their choice of wardrobe flashed into his eyes and disappeared.

"All from high class families, I heard?" It was a question rather than a statement.

Sasuke's hands were in his pockets and he walked past Lucius, almost as tall as him. Their eyes met and Sasuke said, "From a high class family that's dead. I got the entire fortune after I killed my brother last summer."

Lucius gulped and gave a quick sigh that sounded like it was supposed to be a small laugh.

When he turned his attention to Gaara, the boy was already decomposing into grains of sand.

"I need the address of your house… **sir.**" Gaara said coldly, stressing _sir._ He then looked down at his hand and in green ink the address formed on his hand. The wind blew and Gaara was gone. Aburame Shino just walked past Lucius, too and added coldly, "Sir, I hope you aren't afraid of bugs."

Lucius tensed and Shino disappeared.

Draco stared in awe, "Where did they go?!"

Ino gave a nervous laugh, "They're following Gaara to your house. They should be there in five minutes."

"But Gaara decomposed!!!"

"No… Gaara just travels that way," Ino assured him. The family then began walking towards a carriage in silence. Once they all got in, Ino sat next to Draco while Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy sat together, opposite them. The carriage began moving by itself.

"So Ino, since the boys were a little vague, why don't you explain to me where you guys are from and which families and … what you are…" He raised an eyebrow.

Ino's breath hitched as her body went numb.

"_Ino! Listen!" Sakura screamed within her mindscape, "The Malfoys are not under any circumstance to know we are ninjas and here to protect to school. According to what Harry told me, we're here as exchange students from the Wizarding School in Japan. We just have special abilities because we were trained in combat without wands and we were also trained in hand to hand combat."_

_Ino looked a little confused, wrote it down on a piece of paper and nodded. Sakura left._

"Ino…"

"Ino!"

"INO!"

Ino snapped out of daze, "Oh I'm sorry, I was just thinking… my mind wandered. Anyway, what is it that you wanted to know sir?"

"Well, since the boys were a little vague, why don't you explain to me where you guys are from and which families and … what you are…" He said again patiently.

Ino laughed, "We're wizards sir! We were just trained to use magic without wands in our school back in Japan and were also trained in hand to hand combat. However we all do come from respectful, rich and powerful families. The boys are just a little cold… because of… well… Sasuke's family was killed by his brother and last summer he got vengeance, so he inherited the entire fortune. Gaara's father died a few years back, but he has also been trying to kill Gaara ever since the kid was born, so Gaara's a bit of a closed up person. Aburame Shino…we just think he's crazy sir."

A sigh, "Ah." Ino stared at the man. He seemed so dignified, yet so to himself she couldn't help but wonder did he believe her, or was he plotting something evil anyway.

The rest of the ride was in silence.

----------- XxX ---------------

Sakura watched Ino and the boys take their departure with a boy that could've easily been mistaken as Ino's brother. She smirked and crossed her hands then slowly turned her head back to the eleven ninja remaining. She made number twelve. Everyone was talking amongst themselves, taking in the spectacular surroundings. However, Sakura wasn't as half as interested as the rest.

A redheaded boy with freckles approached Harry and smiled. They did a handshake they probably made up and then parted. The boy introduced himself as Ronald Weasley, or Ron for short. A wavy haired brunette skipped her way as well into the crowd, hugged Harry tightly, and then waved hello to the new comers. Sakura smiled back at her. The girl said her name was Hermione Granger, and there was something bookwormish about her voice. Following Hermione and Ron was a collection of redheads, two twins, one girl, and the parents. Sakura saw where Ron got his red hair from. After Ginny, Fred and George introduced themselves, they began hitting on Sakura and Hinata because they were too afraid to walk up to Temari. Her brother looked mean about anyone touching his sister; and you just don't mess with a guy that wears a cat outfit and has purple markings on his face. TenTen was leaning against Neji who hand his hands light around her waist. So that left Hinata and Sakura to be tortured. It wasn't the bad kind of torture where you're begging the guy to disappear, or are ready to punch him in the face. The two guys were actually quite funny. They made jokes to their own expenses, and retold funny stories about blowing people's ears off by accident, or turning someone's face lime green. Hinata even laughed. Sakura was having quite a good time with them, too. Suddenly a stray thought fell into her head about what Harry had told her earlier.

_Shit! _Sakura thought, _I forgot to tell Ino and the boys about what Harry said. What if one of them leaks to the Malfoys that we're ninjas?_

Sakura slowly started to panic. George and Fred asked her if she was okay, but even though she evidently wasn't, she kept nodding her head. Hinata looked at her and switched from speaking fluent English back to Japanese.

"Anno, Sakura, didn't Ino teach us how to communicate telepathically before we came on this mission? Just incase something like this happened?" Hinata was just trying to be of help.

Sakura's eyes widened and a huge smile spread across her face. In a flurry of happiness she turned around, grabbed Hinata's head, and kissed both cheeks. The Hyuuga heiress just stood there, shell shocked, her cheeks now red probably from Sakura's grip and Hinata's habit of blushing.

The pink haired kunoichi closed her eyes and raised her forefinger and middle finger in front of her face. The remaining three fingers were connected in a circle. She spoke some words Fred and George didn't seem to understand. However noticing the buildup of air around her as it began to swirl in a whirlpool manner, both moved from the line of fire. When she was done speaking, her eyes opened on impact and she screamed, "KAI!" Promptly afterwards she fainted. Hinata bent down and picked her up and was suddenly at a loss as to where to lay here down. Mrs. Weasley noticed her dilemma and said that it was probably a better idea to move out of the center of the platform, and conjured a couple benches. Some took their seat, and others stood. Sakura was laid down on one that had it's back to a huge stone pillar. Not even a couple seconds had passed and Sakura awoke with a start. She took a moment to recollect, and then got up to stretch. Since she was not sure how long she's been out, the medic ninja walked up to Hermione and touched her shoulder lightly. Never hurts to ask, right? The brunette spun around, slightly startled.

"Hey, Sakura right?" Hermione smiled, wondering if she got the name right.

"Yeah, right pronunciation too. Maybe you should teach Harry sometimes because Cherry is just getting weird." Hermione laughed at this comment.

"Anyway, why are we still here? Harry told me we'd be going with the Weasleys but they've already been here fifteen minutes," Sakura voiced her concern.

"Oh," Hermione said, "The Weasley's want to see everyone off before we leave."

Sakura nodded, and the two began talking about Konoha, ninjas and what not. The topic ended up so heartfelt that Sakura began crying as she retold her about Sasuke's departure… and when she saw him again last year. Once Sakura was done, it was Hermione's turn to talk about falling in love with Harry but he never noticing, just dating other girls. When Hermione cried, Sakura offered comfort, and the two were off to a great start.

The conversations were broken by a voice that felt distant and dreamy. It was light, like the voice of an angel with out the extra echo. Luna Lovegood made her way into the crowd and introduced herself and hugged the trio she already knew. Shikamaru, Temari, Kankuro and Neji said their goodbyes and began walking away. Sakura sighed. Four more down, and eight left to go.

--------------------- With Luna Lovegood -------------------

It was an uncomfortable silence with her. Temari walked her own path, enjoying the breeze and thinking about Suna, Shikamaru was bored and he kept looking at the ceiling wishing he was looking at clouds. Not far behind Temari was Kankuro who was attempting to rub his eyes without ruining his makeup. Neji walked closest to the rails. His hands were dug deep into his pocked and his back as was slouched. Every so often, he'd look up at the sky, then back at his feet.

Lung seemed to have noticed this behavior, but what caught her attention more was the perfect long hair that was tied at the very end. It flowed behind him like a cape, but gave off a mysterious aura. She turned around and blinked, as if to get rid of the far away look that glazed her light blue eyes. Her shot wavy light blond hair framed her pale face in a beautiful, yet frightening way. She fell in pace with Neji and looked past him into the green hills beyond which Scotland lay, then up at the sky.

"Why do you have long hair?" she asked him.

Neji, shaken from thought just looked at her weirdly for a moment, then shrugged.

"Why do you read the Quibbler upside down?" She gave a small laugh, "True that…"

Silence followed the rest of the way.

----------------------- Back with the 8 remaining ninjas and the Weasley family, Potter and Hermione -------------------

Sakura leaned her head against the cold stone pillar. Hermione was talking to Kiba and Naruto about Gryffindor and what it was like, while the twins talked to Hinata and TenTen. Sai was drawing, sitting curled up on the ground next to Sakura's bench and Lee was telling Ron and Harry all the marvelous misadventures he had. With Gai.

Deciding to go rescue Harry and Ron from Lee's youthful wrath, Sakura got off the bench and leisurely made her way over there.

"…and then Gai sensei said that I had to run five hundred laps on my hands. I asked him, around what, and he said, WELL KONOHA OF COURSE. But I told him it was impossible. Gai sensei said I had to believe in myself, and I could do it because I was still fresh from the youth fountain of love and strength. Feeling all pumped up I began my 500 laps and I finished three days later…" Lee's story left the boys looking for any opening at all to get away from him. Just then, Sakura joined in.

"Lee… Lee…it's okay…" she soothed him like he was insane. Well Lee did burst out crying a moment later. He then ran away into Mrs. Weasley's arms and she held him and calmed him down by caressing his hair and holding him tightly. Sakura, Harry and Ron just stared at him incredulously.

"Freak," Ron muttered under his breath.

"You can say that again," Sakura agreed.

"Thanks for coming in Cherry," Harry said, "I thought I was gonna have to punch the dude to make him shut up."

"Heh," Sakura gave a small laugh, "Punch Lee?"

Harry nodded, but Sakura shook her head, "Impossible."

She turned around slowly, the pink hair dancing with the soft breeze that began to blow.

"Woow…" the two boys remarked as her beauty stunned them. The boys then began pushing and fake fighting on who'd date her first as they watched her go, her hips swaying seductively.

Sakura sat back on the bench and brought her legs up, too. She sat there in scratching silence as she listened to Sai's paintbrush dance across the coarse pages and the hum of talking created by every other person, witch, wizard, or the ninjas. Distant, yet still present, and somewhat soothing. She felt invisible for a minute, but the kind of invisible where she feels like she's watching a movie unfold before her eyes, not the emo kind. And the paintbrush whirled its way across the page, like a mediator between the suspended reality and actuality. Slowly, she turned her head away from the train and the people boarding it or saying their last goodbyes to their loved ones back to her friends and noticed a girl with thick golden hair and a school uniform talking to Mrs. Weasley and her teammates. Still dazed, Sakura stood up and walked over.

Susan Bones was a quiet person. She was much like Hinata, except she didn't stutter. It was obvious she didn't care much for fashion either because she was already wearing her Hufflepuff school uniform. Her thick golden hair looked unkempt but clean and there was not an ounce of make up on her face. When she first came, Hinata and TenTen noticed both features instantaneously, both slightly happy they got her. TenTen was a tomboy so fashion wasn't her strong suit either, and Hinata was quiet and shy. Sai didn't notice them and Lee was too busy doing handstands. Susan Bones first said hi to her friends, hugged Hermione and shook hands with Ron and Harry. She couldn't avoid a group hug from the twins, and Mrs. Weasley forced her into one as well. Lastly, she bowed slightly and introduced herself.

"My mother is waiting by the car," she pointed over her shoulder, "So get your stuff girls, and lets go."

"Um, wait, there are two guys coming with us as well…" TenTen said slightly unsure was she informed of that or not.

"Oh…" the girl said but didn't object, "Right, yes, I remember now. Four people." She nodded her head and pursed her lips. TenTen got up from the bench and got Sai while Hinata tried to tell Lee that they had to go. Every once in a while Hinata would look back at Susan and giggle nervously. In response, Susan just smiled.

Finally, the four were ready to go, and they said goodbye to their friends and the Weasleys. TenTen and Hinata bowed as they waved to Harry. Sai didn't say anything at all to anyone and Lee was over enthusiastic as usual.

Once the Hufflepuff platoon was out of sight, the Gryffindor platoon started getting ready themselves. The sun was beginning to set on the station and a couple lingering moments later, the four benches were empty, and only the sun's light cast a shadow across the seats.

------------------------ Malfoy Residence ----------------------

Ino looked outside the carriage window and tried to conceal her amazement. She got out first and held the door open for Mrs. Malfoy and then followed her as the boys let themselves out. Ino, not liking the slow pace of the woman next to her, ran ahead to meet the three boys at the front door who looked utterly bored. Sasuke, who was leaning on his side against the emerald green façade, pushed himself off with his shoulder and smirked. Once Ino caught up to them, she immediately asked what they thought of it.

"My house is still better, bigger, wider and more elegantly structured," Sasuke said before the three Malfoys came within earshot.

"I live in the Kazekage castle…" Gaara just said and looked down, "Though Temari usually locks me up in the office so I finish signing papers. She knows a simple lock can't hold me in, but I get her point and do as told…"

They all looked at Shino who simply shrugged, "As long as I can eat, sleep and shower, I'm good." They figured he was used to going on mission with Yamato-senpai who would always create a make-shift house. As long as it worked, and provided shelter, Shino wasn't to complain. So after a while of doing missions, he stopped caring for fancy and huge, though he was not sure he ever even cared at all.

But Ino was ecstatic. Not just because the house was huge, but because this mission seemed like a load of fun. She'd be going to school for the first time since the ninja academy she graduated from when she was twelve. Best part was she'd learn magic. She always wanted to know how the magicians at the Konoha shows pulled the rabbit out of the top hat. It had been bothering her for a while, but Ino was still confused as to why they had to go to school for seven years to learn tricks like that. She then made the mistake of asking.

The door swung open on its own the moment the Malfoys approached. The all walked inside and Ino felt like she had gone to Disney World. She was pretty sure she was the only one that felt that way too. Her three teammates couldn't careless, and the other three lived there. Narcissa excused herself and Mr. Malfoy told Draco to show them their rooms. They were to meet in the dining room of the East Wing at 7 pm sharp. Smirking, Draco took the lead and lead them through a maze of stairs and hallways. Finally he stopped in a long hallway. He pointed to the door on his right, and Ino's name magically appeared on the name tag. She nodded thanks and walked in. Sasuke was the room next to hers, and across him was Shino. Gaara got the room across Ino. The doors slammed shut at the same time which made Draco jump a little. Ino's door however creaked open and she motioned for him to come in. A look of confusion befell the blond boy but he walked in anyway.

"Could you explain to me why you guys need seven years of schooling to learn magic tricks?" Ino asked cautiously, and then gave him a huge grin.

He looked at her for a moment, confusion increasing, "I thought you said you were wizards too, you just use wandless magic."

_Shit! _Ino realized her mistake, and then gave him an apologetic smile, "I'm sorry for this." She formed hand seals and then cried the something in Japanese that Draco could only dream of ever understanding. The world started to black before his eyes, and he fell unconscious. Ino picked him up and then carried him out and laid him on the floor in the hallway. She walked back into her room and the lock clicked.

Draco awoke as he heard a click. He slowly got up and wondered what he was doing lying in the hallway. Shrugging it off, he made his way downstairs and into his father's study. His father wanted to have a **word **with him.

Half an hour later, the ninja and the Malfoys were all seated around a huge table for dinner. Shino had taken his jacket and glasses off after he had been told he wasn't allowed to wear that inside, no matter what. He tried explaining his abilities and why he needed the jacket, but they wouldn't hear of it. Gaara was staring at his food looking at it as if he was trying to make it catch fire, or make it disappear. Sasuke however was silently eating. It wasn't customary, they learned, to slurp. It was rude. Gaara however did eat something, and Shino did too. The only reason they ate was to replenish chakra whilst the other two ate because the were actually hungry. After dinner, the plates cleared away magically and the family moved to a living room. They made themselves comfortable and Narcissa began talking about when they should visit Diagon Alley to get all the things they needed for school.

"September 3rd is Monday, right?" Sasuke asked.

Mr. Malfoy's face contorted into a smile, _His voice is so cold, I've never heard anything like it. This boy is like a prodigy. He's strong, smart, and evil. Perfect addition to Slytherin for my son's graduation year. _Mr. Malfoy just nodded.

"Then we should use this weekend to shop, maybe starting Friday to get our robes, and then Saturday and Sunday to get everything else." A trademark smirk rested on the Uchiha's face.

"It doesn't take that long to shop," Draco spat callously. Narcissa shot him a glare. For some reason, the smile didn't leave Mr. Malfoy's face, just changed. It had been a satisfied smile but it turned into an annoyed grin.

"We don't want to spend the entire day shopping," Gaara interjected before Sasuke could insult him. Ino pinched Sasuke to tell him to stay put and shut his mouth.

This sentence got rewarded the raised eyebrows from all three Malfoys, so Gaara continued, "We'd like to get a feel of the place, get a tour, and buy things that aren't for school as well. Though I'm not into that whole thing, my sister is going to force me to go the minute we're done with the day's shopping."

"Oh," Draco's face lit up, "You have a sister!?"

"Don't. **Touch**. Her," instead of being a remark, it sounded like a threat.

"Well, I guess that's set then. After shopping… wait what happens?" Mrs. Malfoy spoke up.

"After we're done with the school shopping that day, we'll disband. For example, I'll go with Shikamaru and Chouji exploring, Gaara is going to go with his sister and brother. Well, they'll drag him actually. Shino is going with Kiba and Hinata, and Sasuke will stick to Sakura and Naruto," Ino tried to explain, "We've been in these groups ever since we were twelve, and we're all best friends."

"Wait, aren't Shiikamaaru and Temaari and Kankuurou with Lovegood in Ravenclaw? And Shogi, Kiba, Sakuura and Naruuto and in Gryffindor? Hinaata's in Hufflepuff, right?" Draco asked disbelievingly.

Ino nodded, unsure of what point he was trying to make.

"YOU, SLYTHERINS!? You guys are FRIENDS with Gryffindors!?" Draco raised his voice to make his point, his face becoming more incredulous as the words flowed out of him.

"Yeah…?" Ino looked confused.

"You have a problem?" Sasuke raised his eyebrows and his eyes flashed red. Draco gulped and shook his head.

"No!"

Mr. Malfoy smiled again, "Alright, then it's settled."

--------------------------------------- Lovegood Residence --------------------------------------

"Welcome to my humble abode," Luna said and gave them a faint smile. She handed out maps of the house and pointed out to their rooms and then walked in and shut the door behind her. Shrugging, the ninja vanished away. Temari found her room first. She walked inside to notice it was all green and orange. It didn't really fit her style, but she could see what Luna was thinking. However, sand wasn't exactly orange, and her favorite color was sea green not dark green. Still, it's the thought that counts. Temari placed her bag on the huge four poster bed and took out her suitcase that was chibified. As she enlarged it in a puff of smoke, she noticed the covers were red and the pillows were a mixture of maroon and the color of sand. The huge blanket had the Suna mark on it. Temari gave a small smile. She opened her suitcase and just stared at it for a moment.

_I'm going to be here one week, what's the point of unpacking? _She thought, feeling lazy all of sudden. Shrugging, she put the suitcase onto a small stool and threw herself on the bed. Directly opposite the bed and near the top of the parallel wall, stood a huge clock. What looked to be the number seven on any regular clock was replaced by the word dinner. Temari had another half hour left, so she dozed off. Shower could wait until after dinner.

-- X --

Shikamaru appeared in his room and enlarged his suitcase immediately. The walls were a dark green, and the bedding was a mixture of grey and dark green. One of the walls bore the Konoha symbol and Shikamaru smirked. He looked around, hands back in pockets then sighed. Screw unpacking, fuck the shower, he was tired. Or just lazy.

-- X --

Kankuro actually bothered unpacking. Being the neat freak he is, he placed all his normal clothes in one pile, and his cat ninja outfits in another, chibified his weapons and hid them, placed all his shoes in a neat order, and put his make up along with toiletries in the bathroom. Once he was done he walked back into the dark purple room. The Suna symbol stood right above the bed, done with the color of sand, and in the same fashion of mixing colors, his bed was done. Seeing he had half an hour left on the huge clock opposite his bed until "dinner" he went to get a quick shower.

-- X --

Neji sighed as he walked into the room. He unpacked, but didn't bother to give everything its specific place, and chibified then hid all his weapons. He took a quick shower and got dressed in cargo black pants and a white sleeveless shirt that bore Caged Bird on the back. Beneath the letters was the Caged Bird Symbol. Seeing he still had about fifteen minutes left, he got out a book to read and propped himself against the pillows on the bed.

----- X -----

Temari was first to leave the room. She was dressed in short olive green shorts and a black tank top. Her hair was up in the usual four pony tails, her bangs adorning her forehead. She waited for a moment, and Neji stepped out next.

"Nice!" She commented his T-Shirt, and Neji nodded a thank you. Kankuro came out next, and he had no make up on, just a purple tank top and loose sandy colored Capri. Shikamaru however didn't come out. After a moment of waiting, Temari smacked her lips in annoyance and ordered the two boys to go to dinner. She'd catch up.

Two minutes later, while Kankuro was making small talk with the Lovegood family, Temari walked in, carrying Shikamaru well off the ground by his collar. She dropped him and he fell to the floor with a sickening thud.

"I'm up, I'm up!" he mumbled, then rubbed his eyes and yawned. Nodding a hello to the host family, he sat on Neji's right side. Temari apologized for being late, and for Shikamaru's behavior, and the Lovegoods laughed, thinking nothing off it.

After dinner, they discussed when they should go to Diagon Alley, and Shikamaru, for the first time, spoke.

"The best plan is to cut up our search of Diagon Alley into three days. The Slytherin platoon said that they were going to have a relaxed shopping spree. Gaara probably said his brother and sister were going to drag him around to go exploring, and Shino probably agreed to stick to Hinata and Kiba. Sasuke likewise is going to stay with Naruto and Sakura, and Ino probably did the talking. We will be followed by someone the Malfoys hired, so we will disguise ourselves the minute we get the chance. We meet for lunch and dinner with our host families and head back home in the evening. By Sunday night, each one of us will have a map in their head of every person and every little alley Diagon Alley contains. Everything suspicious and points of meeting or interest will be marked by Kiba and Shino."

The remaining ninjas nodded in agreement. However, Mr. Lovegood was taken aback.

"How do you know for sure?" he questioned disbelief painting his voice.

Shikamaru smiled, "Do you really want to question an IQ of 260?"

Mr. and Mrs. Lovegood's mouth dropped open.

"Thought so," he smirked.

--------------------------------------- Bones Residence -----------------------------------------

Hinata and TenTen were quick to make friends with Susan. Susan's house wasn't big, only had three bedrooms, so what they did was magically expand Susan's room and add two more beds, used to guest room to host the boys, and the last room was reserved for the parents. However, the house wasn't small. It had two stories and a pool in the back yard, plus it was furnished with great taste and a lot of white and lemon yellow.

The three girls sat on their beds and unpacked, talking and laughing. Hinata was still quiet and shy, but soon, for some reason, that barrier of her she held up for so long began to break.

"See!" TenTen said, "I told you the only reason you stutter is because of your stupid cousin and Naruto. Peer pressure!" she said smartly, her voice holding a slight tune to it.

Hinata blushed at Naruto's name, turned towards the wall and sulked. TenTen and Susan just stared at her. The weapon's mistress took a deep breath and Susan just rolled her eyes.

"She likes him?"

"LIKES!? Woman, that's an understatement. Blueberry here loves the kid. Has ever since she met him."

Susan laughed, and sat next to Hinata, "Aw, it's ok, I think he likes you, too…" this just got a bigger sulk. Susan instantly stood up, "Okay I give up."

In the boys' room, Lee was chained and duct taped, and Sai was sitting on the window sill, the window wide open, drawing. Half an hour later, a small bell sounded that dinner was ready. Sai quietly put away his paintbrush and ink, then left the paper out for the ink to dry. He unchained and took the tape off Lee's mouth and told him to shut up and chill out, then left the room while Lee cried, "SAI-SAN IS SOOO MEAN!"

After dinner was over, and the Diagon Alley trip was settled to Friday-Sunday, Hinata, who stopped sulking, TenTen and Susan went down town to muggle London for some fall/winter shopping and the girls all bought swimsuits and other clothes. They came back around ten pm, and sneaked out back, changed and jumped in. Hinata had to admit, as she laid on her long beach chair, this was the most fun she ever had. Usually she was shy to do this kind of stuff, but with Susan and TenTen, she felt free to do the things she always wanted to.

"I keep telling you," TenTen's voice held a tune to it before it changed back to blunt tone, "I say you blame Neji and your dad. They've never let you get out of their sight or do anything remotely fun."

Hinata just gave a small laugh. "Yeah, I guess you're right," she said as she looked up at the stars.

--------------------------- Weasley Residence -------------------------

Sakura, Naruto, Kiba and Chouji all stared at a tree with windows. Sakura looked around and counted heads.

_One…two…four…five.. okay five Weasley members currently, four of us, Harry and Hermione, and possibly anyone else who might want to join us…? What's that make…nine…te- ELEVEN PEOPLE! _Sakura gave a small eep! sound as she the horror of the number barely matched the width and height the … tree.

"Welcome to the burrow!" Ron said, not very proud of it obviously.

"Oh Ron, drop it!" Hermione's voice perked up from behind them.

"THIS LITTLE BURROW IS SUPPOSED TO HOLD ELEVEN PEOPLE!" He cried in disbelief. Sakura was glad she didn't have to say it.

"IT DID!" Hermione's voice rose to a defiant scream.

"WHEN!?"

"When Charlie and Bill and Percy all lived here!" she reasoned, her voice still shrill.

"Huh?" the three ninjas looked confused.

Hermione looked at Kiba, Naruto and Sakura, then at Chouji, who wasn't really paying attention…just eating.

"He never stops eating does he?" she pointed, straying off topic for a moment.

"Only when he fights." Kiba shrugged.

Hermione shook her head, "Anyway, Bill, Percy and Charlie are Ron's older brothers."

"Wait, wait lemme get this straight," Naruto started, "There are seven kids?!"

"There WERE seven kids, six brothers and Ginny. But Percy left the family, basically disowned himself and works for Cornelius Fudge, the stupid moron that runs the Ministry of Magic. Charlie works with Dragons in Egypt and I don't remember where Bill went." Hermione explained.

"But anyway, last summer, all the brothers, even Percy came back for a month, and Harry and I were here, meaning seven siblings, plus Mr. and Mrs. Weasly makes nine, plus Harry and me, that's 11. AND IT WORKED FINE LAST SUMMER!" she directed the last sentence's anger at Ron, who flinched and cowered under her glare.

"Man, she reminds me of someone," Naruto whispered to Kiba. Sakura's eye twitched and she punched him. Hermione, Ron, Harry and the twins watched in awe as Naruto went sailing through the ground, and ended with his head in the dirt and his body right above him. Sakura walked over, caught him by his pant leg, picked him out of the dirt, and dropped him again, then walked away with her head high.

Kiba sighed. _Yup, there sure is a lot of resemblance. But Sakura isn't as smart-ass as Hermione. So what!? That's only a minor difference. Their anger management sure is the same. Doubt the strength though._

After Naruto mentally healed from the punch, they all walked to the burrow to get settled in, Naruto rubbing the blue swelling spot on his cheek bone, and holding a tissue to his bleeding nose. Sakura agreed after being pressured by Harry and Ron to heal him, and they all sat to a lovely dinner just around half past six. The dinner was something else. Mrs. Weasley made a lot of food, all of which was extremley delicious. She then asked Naruto, since he was the one that got badly hurt by a teammate, if he wanted her to make something special for him. Naruto perked up with ramen, but got another punch on the head from Sakura, who looked at him angrily and then laughed apologetically at Mrs. Weasly.

"No, thank you, is what he means."

Mrs. Weasley gave a cunning smile and then pulled her wand out and the dishes suddenly were empty and crystal clean. Sakura was taken aback a moment, but shrugged. _Simple chakra use. _The plates then flew away and found their right spots in the cupboards as the nine kids slowly filed out of the room, thanking Mrs. Weasley again. Mr. Weasly stayed behind with his wife, reading the daily prophet while the kids went into the vast back yard. Little gnomes were running around and Harry laughed when Akamaru started to bark really loudly and Sakura flinched away with disgust. Kiba and Naruto went over and joined Ron who was showing them how to get rid of the gnomes. Apparently there was a special way. Sakura and Hermione were just discussing boys in general and Hermione led her behind to a swingset and started to tell her a little about the boys at Hogwarts. Mainly Draco Malfoy. Chouji was having fun with Fred and George as they showed him all the cool gadgets they had like the Extendable Ear and the Headless Hats among other things. When the sun started to set, George, Fred, Harry, Ron and Ginny started to play makeshift Quidditch and then explained the rules of gameplay to Kiba and Naruto. Fred and George gave up their brooms and by the time night fell, Kiba and Naruto were getting better at it and were hoping to try out for the Qudditch team that year. Before the sun completely set, Fred and George showed off their magic skills, and Hermione and Sakura clapped like insane as they made the sky light with fireworks. The night set with a great feeling in the air and a lot of laughter.

They walked up to their rooms, and got ready for bed. Hermione, Sakura, and Ginny shared one room, Kiba, Naruto and Chouji shared the attic with Harry and Ron, while Fred and George got their own. Everyone got ready for bed, but met downstairs for a small meeting. They planned out how the Diagon Alley trip should go, and the meeting disbaned. Sakura,Ginny and Hermione had a pillow fight that night, while Mrs. Weasley sneaked up to the attic and gave each of the boys some ramen. Naruto's eyes widened with overflowing joy and he gave the woman a huge hug. They played Wizarding Chess, ate sweats, and talked about girls the entire night. Naruto's stories usually consisted of being beaten up by some girl, usually Sakura and Ino, Kiba's story consisted of his sister and Hinata. Hinata was too shy for anything and he can't really date his sister. However, Ron and Harry had some funny stories the other two boys enjoyed. Before they knew it, the sun began to rise on yet another day, and the boys high fived each other. It would be hard to tell they were gaurds because of how well they fit in. Deep inside, Naruto and Kiba knew that friendships made here would be irreplacable.

"Well," Ron started as the sun began to rise, "We'll be dead tired today, but it was definitely worth it!"

"Hah, yeah," Kiba agreed. He then took out a pouch and handed Naruto a round dark olive green pill. Both boys took it and swallowed it. Kiba then offered one to their new friends.

"What is that?" Harry asked, looking skeptically at the pills as if they were drugs.

"They're called soldier pills," Naruto explained, "They replenish chakra and strength. After taking one of them you feel good as new. We take those when we're on long missions or patrolling the grounds at night and aren't allowed to sleep. Or sometimes when we're low on chakra and we need to replenish it as soon as possible because the fight will continue."

"Hey, Naruto?" Harry looked at him in deep contemplation.

"Nani?"

"Who's in charge of this mission?"

"Well, Gaara. He's the Kazekage. But we get orders straight from Dumbledor and Tsunade-sama. Gaara's only in charge during fights, and Shikamaru usually takes charge in leading platoons and coming up with plans. He's like the smartest thing alive." Naruto gave a small laugh.

"Not as smart as Hermione!" Ron assured, though his voice held a tinge or regret. It was as if he hated Hermione for being smart.

"Ha, what's her IQ?" Kiba asked.

"180!!" Harry answered, looking at them, positive that no one could be smarted that Hermione.

"Well Shikamaru's IQ was 200 when he was twelve. It climbed to 260 over the past five years. No one's ever beaten him at anything. So funny, we think we're losing, the enemy is sure they're winning, and then Shikamaru simply lands next to us and fear overcomes the enemy as they realize that's EXACTLY what Shikamaru wanted to happen, the exact same way he foretold it would happen. The enemy is then easily captured and killed. Basically, Shikamaru plans out the entire fight, and every move."

The two boys gawked.

"Heh, yup," Naruto laid down, using his hands as a pillow, "and he's the laziest mother fucker on this planet."

They all burst out laughing.

"So, that Diagon Alley place on Friday?" Kiba half asked, half stated.

"Yup," Ron confirmed.

"Looking forward to it," Akamaru, who had just woken up, barked in agreement.

"I'll bet we'll be trailed," Naruto smirked, looking at the ceiling.

"Where?" Kiba asked, petting Akamaru.

"That Diagon Alley place."

"What?" the remaining three boys asked in unison.

"I don't know..." Naruto rolled over to his side, "Just something Anko-sensei told me before we left."

"What did she say?" Kiba was really confused and interested.

"He was there too. Find him...and..." But Naruto stopped talking, "Never mind."

-------------------------------------------- **End Chapter -------------------------------------------**

**A/N: Well I hope you liked. ******** yes Anko's gonna be a huge part of this! You'll just have to wait and see what it is. Please PLEASE please review. Means so much to me! Love you! See you all next chapter!!! 3 (That was supposed to be a heart. Sorry if it doesn't show)**


	3. Shopping Fiasco

Sorry for the long wait on this chapter. Hope you like it. I had a writer's block for a while. Instead of keeping everything formal, weighed down with the true twisted weight of this story, let's spark things up with a little laughter…from the Slytherins anyway. The Gryffindors are having a hard time smiling...with Sakura's temper tantrums. To keep from going back and forth, I decided to integrate this into one chapter, the Gryffindors and Slytherins together. The beginning is about the Gryffindors for the greater purpose of my plot.

Please laugh.

--------------------------x

Diagon Alley pt. 1

------------------------------------------------ The Gryffindors ---------------------------------------------------------

Dawn was silent. After a quiet breakfast, everyone got ready, stuffing money into pockets and what not, before the entire family made it outside. The twins explained to Kiba, Chouji and Naruto how to ride, while Ginny did the same to Sakura. The silence was caused by sudden news of Harry's godfather's death, and with a letter from Anko. It had been simple and short, just one sentence long.

_Ask one of the Byakugan users to check if your Potion's teacher has the cursed seal. _

After trying to figure out the connection between Anko and Professor Snape (apparently what the Potion's teacher's name was) with little success, the weight of death of a loved one really weighed everyone down. Even the four ninjas who didn't know him. It's said he died in battle, and the ninjas knew, such a death was honorable. Naruto made a mental note to add him to the K.I.A stone back in Konoha. However, Naruto's mind couldn't stay focused on anything. He couldn't even mourn with everyone else. The mission he had with Anko a few years back kept nagging at him. Where had she gone that morning?

The only other person he could actually consult besides Anko herself, was Ino. They shared a room after all, but Ino was with the Slytherins, arch enemies of the Gryffindors. And why was she so late? What did she go visit?

A burial site, a memorial, or check out some information that could help the mission, even though it was already a success? Or maybe that place she visited held memories…and she just wanted to remember.

But what if they were bad memories…why would she WANT to remember?

"_Orochimaru didn't abandon me!" Anko screamed at Kabuto._

_The white haired boy just laughed, "You were WEAK Anko! Admit it!"_

The conversation back at the Chunnin exams flew through Naruto's head. He thought he had an idea. He still needed to talk to Ino though, urgently.

Mr. Weasley's voice brought him out of any more thoughts as he instructed everyone to kick off. Moments later, eleven people were floating mid air. Mr. Weasly cast a spell on them, so the unsuspecting non magical community of London wouldn't die of heart attacks when they saw 11 people on brooms.

Silently, they all followed Mrs. Weasly.

They all secretly hoped that Diagon Alley would cheer them up, even though each and every one doubted it. How could a bustling, critically hot and cramped place cheer anyone up?

After what seemed like hours of floating through the air, the beautiful breeze washed away all the pain, leaving mellow hearts. Harry and his gang just couldn't cheer up, and despite the efforts of the ninjas, minus Naruto, Hermione was still crying. After around twenty minutes of attempting to cheer everyone up, in a quiet sort of awkward and half loud manner, the ninjas regrouped, Naruto and Kiba in the lead with Sakura and Chouji behind them.

"We need to cheer them up. Fast!" Sakura said, knowing their mourning can go on AFTER they reach Hogwarts. Right now they needed the wizards' full cooperation if the Diagon Alley search was going to be successful.

"Which team would be the funniest?" Kiba asked.

"Well, Lee would be hilarious…in an annoying kind of way but…"

Naruto cut Sakura off, "The Slytherins. It's final." And he flew away ahead of them, leaving a puzzled Sakura.

Harry was the first to land. He had flown off in front of everyone else for a reason. His mind was too occupied to be able to withstand all of Sakura's cheerfulness, even though it had been slightly awkward. At least she tried, Harry thought.

His thoughts led him back to the Hearing. Sirius. Harry then vowed on his life that he would avenge Sirius's death. He would kill Voldemort. However, even the thought of revenge couldn't cheer Harry up.

Naruto was the next to land, "We need to find the Slytherins." His voice was formal, filled with urgency.

"WHAT!?" Harry looked at the blonde ninja incredulously.

"I need to talk to Ino. Urgently," was Naruto's brief explanation.

_"I'll bet we'll be trailed," Naruto smirked, looking at the ceiling._

_"Where?" Kiba asked, petting Akamaru._

_"That Diagon Alley place."_

_"What?" the remaining three boys asked in unison._

_"I don't know..." Naruto rolled over to his side, "Just something Anko-sensei told me before we left."_

_"What did she say?" Kiba was really confused and interested._

_"He was there too. Find him...and..." But Naruto stopped talking, "Never mind."_

The flashback flew through Harry's head, the words echoing. Deciding it probably had something to do with that, Harry reluctantly agreed. Once everyone had landed, and co. made their way through the bar called Leaky Cauldron, to the back where with a magic touch, the stones moved, and the busy streets of Diagon Alley were revealed.

"Kiba. Find Ino!"

Akamaru barked and ran ahead, the boys flash-stepping after him. Sakura stayed behind to lead the rest of them towards the Slytherins.

* * *

Ino looked skeptically at the floo powder and then at Draco, who was impatiently holding it.

"It won't kill you!!" he said, exasperation coloring his voice.

"That fire might…" she said pointing to the green fire Sasuke left behind. She turned around to look at Shino and Gaara, but neither was of any help. If anything, they looked dead. Mr. Malfoy was getting really irritated, so she decided, against her better judgment, to actually do as they said. Hesitantly, Ino took a handful of the finally grounded powder and stepped into the huge fireplace.

"Remember," Draco reminded her, "SCREAM Diagon Alley." He emphasized scream with a shout of his own, making Ino cringe.

"Fine…fine…" she muttered before standing up straight, "DIAGON ALLEY!" and the blonde went up in flames.

Screaming.

Draco hit his head against the fireplace wall and sighed. He turned around and held his hand out for one of the two remaining guys to go next. Gaara raised an invisible eyebrow, but stepped forth and took a handful. He walked in and nodded at Draco. Without a word, Gaara dropped the powder but didn't say anything. He then began to disintegrate into sand, and vanished from view. When Shino went in, and turned into thousands of little bugs…the two Malfoy men were disgusted, shocked and amazed.

"What the hell just happened?" Mr. Malfoy looked at his son and shrugged.

Once everyone had assembled in the little shop of horrors, or that's what Ino called it, Draco began to tell them of their shopping plan.

"Okay, first we'll head in the direction of getting our uniforms fitted, so by the time we finish today, they'll be ready. Then we should go buy our wands, and get all our textbooks. We can leave tomorrow to find one animal we like, be it owl, frog, rat or cat, the cauldrons and herbs, and anything else we see today we want to buy. Does everyone have money?" Draco knew the last question was sort of stupid, but maybe these freaks held their money someplace, or even Gringotts bank. In that case, they'd first have to go there, and then go around their set schedule. He noticed Sasuke, Gaara and Shino weren't really saying anything, or even conveying the slightest emotion, but leave it to the female of the group to say something.

"Who died and made you king of shopping?" she muttered angrily, refusing to look at him.

Sasuke snickered, but it was short lived and Draco swore he saw Gaara's lips curve. However, that too was gone the instant it was on. Shino, whether he smiled or showed any emotion at all, was impossible to tell, and who else to thank but that huge jacket's neck that covered up to his nose, the hood that covered his eyes, and the huge black glasses that really covered any skin left.

The blonde male glared at his female self, and repeated the question.

"Do. You. Have. Money. On. You?" Ino really knew how to drive people insane, but two can play at that game.

"No, I left it on Mars, and came here empty handed. What the fuck do you think, Einstein!?" Ino retorted.

"You know Ino, THERE IS A FUCKING POSSIBILITY THAT YOU STORE IT IN A FUCKING BANK!" Draco screamed right back at her.

"Please. Stop." Sasuke's voice froze them both.

"Is that the first time he spoke?" Draco asked her.

"It'll be another millennia before he speaks again, I wouldn't get used to it."

**Sasuke hn'd.** "**We're wasting valuable time. Can we just go?" This time Shino spoke and Draco jumped into Ino's arms, both totally shocked. From Draco's weight, the two fell to the ground, and scooted up against the wall.** "**D-did he just…**_**speak**_**?" Draco's voice trembled, and Ino, too scared to answer him, just nodded. In an instant, they realized the position they were in, and jumped to completely separate sides. ** "**Right well, anyway… COUGH" Draco started.** "**Yes," Ino straightened out her clothes.** **Finally, the four exited the shop of old antiques, and walked into a nearly deserted alley. Draco started going right, and Ino instantly took a left, whether to annoy the Malfoy, or just because she didn't see him turn right, was something Draco couldn't bother debating, but he could bet it was the first rather than the latter of the two.**

"I-Ino," left eye twitching, Draco was speaking through his teeth, "The tailor's is that way…"

"I want to go this way!"

"IT'S THAT WAY!" Draco screamed pointing right, "THAT'S THE TOTALLY OPPOSITE WAY OF ANYTHING." He then pointed in her direction.

" ONLY LONELY SCUM AND DARK MAGICIANS RESIDE ON THAT SIDE OF DIAGON ALLEY! FOLLOW ME FOR FUCKING ONCE!" The boy couldn't hold it within him anymore. However, what he said caught the attention of the four ninjas, and Sasuke raised an eyebrow at Ino.

"Exactly! We Should Go THAT Way." Ino turned away from him and continued walking left, missing Sasuke's hint.

Draco just watched her go, and then after a moment, asked help from the three transfer students.

"DUDE!!!!! Do something!!" He whined loudly.

In an instant, sand wrapped around Ino's waist and hauled her into the air.

"H-Hey! Gaara! Put me DOWN!" She complained, trying to wiggle herself free. When the sand put a tighter grip on her, she gave up, resting her elbow on the sand, and her head in her palm.

"Such total fuck ups…Bastards will pay… doing this to me… it's an outrage, I can walk on my own…" she kept on muttering along the way.

Of course, when they reached a more crowded street, people were amazed to see a girl floating mid air with sand wrapped around her, cursing. Since Ino always wears a skirt, the passing guys her age didn't really object to the sight. Until it pissed off Gaara enough that he used some more sand to cover that area. Now it was a beautiful blonde floating mid air, cursing because she has a sand diaper on.

Definitely a photo moment. Too bad no one had a camera.

Once they reached the tailor's place, Gaara finally put Ino down. Muttering something, Ino dusted off lingering parts of sand. She looked up and was met by an old fashion 15th century but modernized in a bad kind of way looking shop. Sasuke sweat dropped but decided not to comment. Ino could easily fill that gap as she saw, and was appalled at, Draco's lit up face.

"Ew."

Draco gritted his teeth in irritation and anger.

"This. Is. The. Best. Fucking. Tailor. WHAT MORE DO YOU WANT!?" He screamed.

"Well, I was thinking it would look cool and glossy and well…" she left that thought to his imagination because she couldn't find the words at that moment, "BUT LOOK AT IT! It looks like someone hasn't climbed up on a ladder and dusted that goddamn sign in fucking centuries."

Sasuke was doing his best not to laugh. It would totally kill his reputation.

Draco couldn't handle the girl any longer.

"Looky look look… It's Ino-pig," a girly voice sounded happily.

Draco and Ino spun around and after a moment the other three did too.

"Fuck. Gryffindors." Draco ran a hand down his face, pulling his skin in irritation, "Ah, Merlin, where did my cool guy, _I'm better than you and you're just shit in my path _attitude go. This girl completely fucked me up."

Ino's left eye twitched, "Care to repeat hun?"

Ino then waved her hand, "Forehead-Girl!"

"Sasuke-teme!!!" Naruto shouted as he ran, waving his hand in the air, "I'm gonna fucking kill you!!" The smile didn't waver.

"I'd like to see you try dobe." The answer was emotionless and cold, but his eyes hinted he got Naruto was just kidding.

Gaara and Shino turned around, "We'll wait inside." And left.

_Take me with you! _Draco silently begged, but he couldn't miss the opportunity to annoy Harry Potter.

"PIG!"

"FOREHEAD GIRL!"

"SASUKE IS TOTALLY MINE!"

"NUH UH!"

"UH HUH!"

"PIG"

"FOREHEAD!"

"DIE BITCH!"

"YOU FIRST!"

The girls then ended up in a pile on the cobblestone street, pulling each others hair and punching. Of course what Draco didn't know was had this been a real fight, Ino would be in the air, doing a mind technique as Sakura would try to use her medical ninjutsu to cut up her muscles. Since they were pushing and pulling hair…it was a mock fight of how to NOT fight. But it looked real enough to Draco. And Ino and Sakura were enjoying it.

"You're weak Naruto!" Sasuke said.

"Avenger fuck head. You really think Orochimaru had the power you needed?! You only killed Itachi because HE LET YOU!" Naruto yelled back.

"YOU KNOW NOTHING ABOUT ME!"

_Wooow _Draco thought, _Didn't know they hated each other that much! Heh, but now's my chance to torment the mudblood and Potter._

"Well, well, if it isn't Harry Potter…" Draco smirked.

"Shut your trap, Malfoy, we're not in the mood." Hermione retorted.

"Oh, Mudblood, I think I am though."

"DON'T YOU HAVE A LITTLE SYMPATHY IN THAT COLD HEART OF YOURS!?" Hermione screamed at him.

Draco smirked.

Sasuke stopped arguing with Naruto.

"Dude, stop with the smirking that is totally my thing!"

Kiba and Chouji were keeping hard from laughing.

But this caused Sakura and Ino to stop as well.

"Draco, what did you feed Sasuke this morning?" She asked, the only one allowed to laugh.

"NOTHING! He refused to eat, remember?" Draco yelled in his defense.

"Must've been the floo powder then!" She said in mock thought, "ALL HANDS ON SASUKE! BRING HIM DOWN! HE HAS LOST HIS MIND!"

And in an instant, everyone pummeled Sasuke. Who of course hn'ed in response.

"Bitches."

Harry, Ron, Ginny and Hermione just stared at everyone.

"Okay, Ino's officially insane," Draco concluded.

Ino stuck her head out of the pile of people, "YOU WERENT THE ONE WEARING A SAND DIAPER!"

Draco rolled over in laughter, and Ron couldn't help but join in.

"I do NOT wish to know what this is about. EVER." Hermione said and Ginny nodded in disgusted agreement.

"MEATBALL TECHNIQUE!" Someone yelled, and the four turned around to see a huge human bowling ball rolling at them. After it rolled over the ninjas, a huge poof revealed a happy looking Chouji.

"Dude, that was totally not nessasary!" Sakura said before fainting.

"Oh-kaay…" Draco said looking at them, "Excuse me, I'ma run away now!" But just as he was about to leave, a girl's hand caught his pant leg.

"You're not going anywhere!"

"Damn you Ino!"

"Harry, come on, cheer up!" Naruto said as he managed to get his head out of the pummeling mess. He had a huge blue eye and a swollen cheek, plus his lip was bleeding.

"My godfather died…" Harry said.

"I know… but that just gives you all the more reason to defeat that Voldemort dude, " and Naruto then remembered why he wanted to talk to Ino. _Anko… _"But for the time being…laugh at us. It's why were doing this. Don't let my efforts be worthless."

Harry couldn't help but agree, "True… he barely knew his Godfather, but in the little time he got to know him, and grew to love him, he realized that his death shouldn't be a burden in his life. It would give him all the more reason to kill Voldemort, but Voldemort was no where to be seen, and he had all year to get ready for their encounter.

For now, Harry joined in the laughter.

After an hour of laughing, pummeling and chocking, Draco, Ino and Sasuke joined Shino and Gaara, who had already finished getting into their outfits.

Ino and Draco secretly liked each other. Not that…Oh.M.G. he is totally Hawt!... kind of like, but more that they enjoyed their little fights. Annoying and irritating, but friendly fights. And after each fight, they couldn't help but burst out laughing…much to everyone else's dismay.

"You sound like an old married couple…" Sasuke commented as he held his arms out for the flying measuring stick to take his … measurements.

The two who had been sticking tongues out at each other grimaced and in unison screamed EW! Proving Sasuke's point.

"Let me get this straight," Gaara spoke, causing Ino this time to jump into Draco's arms in fear.

"Slytherins are cold, cruel and evil. Yet you two are bickering like an old married couple with personalities of five year olds."

"Smartass," Ino muttered under her breath. She jumped out of Draco's arms, grabbed the green vest the witch held out and pulled it over her head.

"Green isn't my color. I like purple better." She noted looking her self over in the mirror.

"Get. OVER. Yourself." Draco screamed through gritted teeth.

"Psh! Never!" She stuck her tongue out at him and winked.

"Women," Shino remarked, and Ino and Draco both looked scared. The bug user hit his head against his hand.

The door swung open with an annoying charm jingle.

"At least red fits me." The pink haired girl stuck her tongue out at Ino.

"Shut up!"

Sakura giggled, winking.

"Seriously, hun, as your best friend, green totally kills you!" Sakura whispered, and Ino winced because Sakura was right.

Naruto walked in after a while, followed by Harry Potter, Kiba, the two girls, and Chouji and Ron who were both eating a bag of barbeque chips.

Sasuke looked annoyed as the old witch woman started touching his private areas to a get a measure and the increasingly annoying chewing of Ron and Chouji weren't helping.

"Oh, Weasel and Weasel-girl. So horrid to see you on such a fine day. What are you poor blood traitors doing in a high class shop like this?" Draco smirked as the owner's assistant was tending to him.

The words stung Ino as well as Sakura, but Ino hadn't the right to say anything. She had to go along with the cruelty.

"You heard the man, Forehead. Get out of here."

Ino pinched Sakura to indicate to play along and the medical ninja understood.

"I think it should be you who should leave. Pigs roll around in the mud, not in expensive materials."

"Ooooh," sounded Chouji and Kiba, while Kiba held Ron back from massacring the blonde bastard (Malfoy).

Ginny bit her lip as Hermione sent Draco a death glare.

"Ohh, mudblood, if only looks could kill," Draco smirked.

"You'd've died years ago." Hermione retored.

Naruto approached Ino and pulled her away from the rest of the group, into a dressing room, and shut the door.

"Do those have a thing?" He asked Sakura. Sakura shook her head, a worried look tracing its way onto her face. She then dismissed her worries and concentrated on keep them from fighting.

---- In the dressing room ----

"Oof!" Ino coughed as she was pressed up against the blonde.

"Sorry!" Naruto said, touching around for a light.

"That was my boob, fuck head!"

"Eh heh…hee..." he laughed awkwardly, "Sorry…"

"Dweeb."

"Damn! No light!" Naruto said as he realized there was no light switch… and it was a HORRIDLY small changing room.

"Why'd you drag me in here?" Ino asked, impatient. She wanted to go try on the school skirt on badly!

"Because, remember that mission with Anko a couple years back?" He asked, his breath heavy. She could feel it against her neck, sending chills down her spine.

"Yeah," she nodded, out of breath herself. Skirt was forgotten. She was pressed up against a really hot fifteen year old Naruto who wasn't wearing his forehead protector making him look twice as gorgeous. Key word. Pressed UP. Fine. Words. Whatever.

"I need to know where Anko left to that morning before we left…"

"I-I don't know. She only left me a note."

"Wa-Was there any sort of…of…" Naruto's lips brushed against her cheek as a shoe box hit his head. Ino arched her back instinctively and wrapped her arms around his neck.

"Ino we shouldn't be doing this. The info from you could be crucial to this thing Anko told me." However Naruto couldn't stop himself from circling her waist with his arms.

"No. There was no weird behavior prior to the last night, during the night. She must've left while I was deep asleep, but early in the morning. Judging from how neatly it was written, it must've been five thirty am. At the crack of dawn. You were there through everything else. Now shut up and kiss me." Ino said all in one breath before she pulled Naruto close to her.

The kissed passionately, hotly. Naruto then broke the kiss to suck and nibble at her neck, wrapping one leg around his waist.

_Thank you GOD she's wearing a skirt! _He thought as Ino unzipped his pants. His kisses moved down to her plump boobs as her hands worked on taking out his throbbing and hard erection.

_Wow, I can make guys hard that easy!? _Ino thought. _Well, it'd be cruel to take away sex now. He'd just rape me later. _

She started with a delicate handjob, but Naruto couldn't keep himself out of her. And they needed to get back fast. Doing a quick silence jutsu on the room, Naruto probed her, but her undies were still in the way.

"Take … Take em off…" Naruto said, and Ino did as told, wrapping both legs around him after.

"Oh GOD! Yes!"Ino said, loving the feeling of his throbbing hard dick as he made his way into her.

"Ino?"

"Yeah?"

"Why are we doing this?"

"Cuz it was inevitable. You dragged me into a tight, lightless closet. What did you think, we'd be reading ninja speeches?"

"But I only needed info!"

"You needed this too…"

He thrust himself into her, catching from her small wimps this was her first time. Gradually, as she got used to the feeling of him inside her, he increased his thrusts, going faster and harder.

Finally, he felt himself discharge into her, and Ino shuddered from pleasure.

"Not how I imagined my first time, but…it was amazing nonetheless."

"Are we a thing now?" Naruto asked. He had taken her virginity. It was only the right thing to do. Be with her.

"My heart rests with Gaara, but I know he'll never look at me that way. I guess I just couldn't wait any longer to lose my virginity. At least it was to someone as great, and as fucking hot as you are. By the way, everyone knows you love Hinata. But don't count on it being a one time thing. We're friends with great privileges."

"Gotcha babes."

"Now shut up and kiss me!" and Naruto did as told.

After Ino and Naruto re-appeared, Sakura gave Ino and knowing look and Ino signaled her to hush, causing her best friend to laugh.

"Good going!"

"Shut up, it wasn't planned on!"

"What did he ask you before you…" Sakura tried to stop from laughing.

"Just something I wasn't much help with. Shhh, tell you later."

"Ah…" Sakura said still smiling. After getting a glare from her best friend, she decided to abruptly change the subject.

"Try this skirt on…"

The Slytherin team was the first to leave. After much pulling, screaming, yelling, and hair tugging, a disheveled Draco and Ino floated out of the tailor's store, both with sand around them… far apart from one another. Ino wore the sand diaper again.

"Fucktards." She muttered.

YOSHI!

Next stop was Olivander's Wand Shop. Draco began to run mid air, trying to get away. He could just SEE chaos and utter Ino-ness happen, before it did, and way desperately trying to avoid it…in vain.

"Ugh… what are wands?" Ino whispered to Sasuke.

"Where you NOT listening to Tsunade when she explained everything," Sasuke asked. The woman had been SCREAMING. How had Ino not heard her?

Ino made a –what-do-you-think- face, and tilted her head to the side a little. Sasuke rolled his eyes, "Idiot."

"Wands are basically chakra conductors. They take the given chakra and produce the said spell. They use wands like we do hand seals…"

"Ahh…" Came Ino's reply.

"But…the wand chooses its owner. Not the other way around. If the wand doesn't want you, then something bad will happen. Sometimes the wand even gave off small explosions, leaving the subject completely covered in soot…" Sasuke gave Ino information…he really should've just kept to himself, because the blonde started giggling evily as she eyed her target. Oh who may that be? Well, what do you know ladies and gentlemen…iiiiiit's………… DRACO MALFOY!

So the five of them walked into the store. Draco could smell danger from a certain blonde, it was literally emanating from her, but he decided to keep a straight face and not tackle her to the ground.

Gaara went first, and Mr. Olivander smiled knowingly at him.

"Aahh, just a moment please," the old man said before disappearing in the back of the store. He re-appeared moments later with about half a dozen wands.

"Try this one," the man said, opening one of the boxes, "It's Yew, pheonix feather, 11 inches."

Gaara silently took it…and held it. After a moment, he looked up at the old man.

The wand seller was still smiling, "Oh, no, no, give it a wirl," and he showed Gaara how it's done with some makeshift hand movement.

Gaara did the whirly thingy the grandpa showed him. Instantly, the wand felt warm in his hand, glowing a blood red color.

"PERFECT!" The man obviously seemed happy that the wand suited the boy perfectly, and it was on his first try, too.

Shino stepped up, "Ahh…for you…" he looked through the remaining five boxes, "Ah here it is, Vinewood unicorn hair, an amazing wand for speechless magic."

Shino looked down at the wand he held and then back at the man, or so the head movement indicated. Olivander nodded at Shino, silently encouraging him to give the wand a whirl. Again, Olivander clapped as the wand glowed a grayish blue. Another ace. Ino pushed Sasuke out of the way, and Draco pulled her back giving her a glare _stop it! _Ino lips formed into a thin line, her ocean eyes angry. Sasuke just looked at her weirdly and continued on his way to the man.

"Oak, ten inches, snake heart string. It's a one of a kind wand…only five existed. One went to Salazar Slytherin, and one might go to you. The other three are somewhere in the back of this shop." Sasuke gave the wand a whirl, feeling oh so foolish. The wand glowed black and purple, and in moments Sasuke was in a heap on the floor, clutching the back of his left shoulder. After a moment, he stood back up.

"Odd reaction, but nothing was destroyed. It seems like the wand reacted with something you possess, and will do wonders once you get accustomed to it," Olivander said with a reassuring smile.

The old man turned to Draco, "Oh it's so good to see you, Master Malfoy. Please do have a seat while I give the girl her wand."

"I'd rather … stand next to her." Draco gave a forced smile.

"Ah, young love."

"On a second thought, I'm going to sit down," Draco gave in, still smiling. Ino turned and gave him a sour _HA I won _grin in return. He smirked.

"Ah for you, how about Cherry tree, single unicorn hair, 9 ¾ inches."

Hmm, Ino thought, cherry tree. Reminds me a lot of Sakura. It'll possibly be my only connection to her while we're in different houses. Through the insults, and through the mock fights, this wand, made from a cherry tree she stands to represent in the only thing I have of her. It shall ensure our friendship. Through the tough…through the easy.

"Alright, old man, hand it over." She held her hand out as she plastered her once thoughtful face with a goofy grin.

Olivander gave it to her.

You _must _accept me, she thought. She gave the wand a whirl and a pink and purple whirl erupted from the tip of the wand. Ino could've sworn she heard a familiar giggle in her mindscape.

The door opened and that very same pink haired girl walked in with her own personal three man team, and the Golden Trio, and Ginny, lingering not far behind.

"We'll wait outside," Hermione said after shooting Malfoy a death glare.

Sakura nodded, and Kiba, Naruto, and Chouji took up the place where Gaara, Sasuke and Shino had just been. Those three had existed with the Golden Trio.

Sakura asked the old man for a wand, and he gave her the twin of Ino's, a cherry tree, single unicorn hair. 9 ¾ inches.

Sakura and Ino looked at each other and smiled, and then pinky gave her wand a whirl. Purple and pink effect.

"_Forever, Friends Til the End," _The muttered simultaneously in Japanese to each other. Draco furrowed his eyebrows in confusion.

"You done Ino?" Draco asked her.

"Nope!" She turned to him with another goofy grin.

"PERFECTUS TOTALUS!" she screamed a charm she learned off the top of her head. Working with Tsunade sometimes paid off. Both Sakura and she were forced to read EVERY SINGLE book the Hogwarts School requested since year 1 to year 5.

The blond boy fell to the floor, completely and utterly annoyed.

"I hate you Ino. I really do."

Ino just giggled and dragged him out of the store. Naruto, Kiba and Sakura were stunned for a moment. After a pregnant pause, the tree erupted into uncontrollable laughter while Chouji just continued eating. Ah, some things never change.

Outside, the Golden trio looked a little perplexed when they saw Ino with a triumphant grin DRAGGING Malfoy out of Olivander's store. The blonde woman was grinning evily.

"Like Gaara said, Slytherins are evil, mean, conniving, and sly creatures. I think I fit right in."

"You fit in with the crazed circus," Malfoy muttered, body still paralyzed. He wondered how she was able to paralyze everything from neck down without affecting his eye and mouth movement. It didn't click in right into his mind's knowledge, but he pushed the thought away.

Hermione's mouth hung open. Ginny's eyes were wide. Ron stopped short, mouth full. Harry tried to suppress a smile. Ino turned to her three henchmen, the fourth being dragged behind her and put out one hand in the "nice guy" pose.

"YOSHI! Let's go!" She said, a little _too _enthusiastically.

The three boys stayed dead silent, just turned and walked away. A rain cloud formed over Ino's head, "So much for that…"

With head bowed, and muffled curses flowing from her pretty pink mouth, the irritate blonde followed the three dead mice…ugh, men, dragging along an even more annoyed blond boy.

The Golden Trio, including Ginny just stared after them. They were so shocked that they didn't hear the four ninjas exit Olivander's. So shocked that they did hear Sakura screaming at them. The pink haired girl stood in front of Ron, cocking her head to the side.

"Ugh is he drooling?" she asked her own three henchmen.

Naruto and Kiba burst out laughing. They doubled over in laughter when Ron put a hand out and grabbed her boob. That boy was gonna get the anti shock of a life time.

"OH YOU PERVERTED BASTARD!" Sakura screamed, her face flushing a dark red color. The next thing everyone knew was that Ron was flying through the air, and Sakura's fist was balled.

"HA, new record that's 400-" Naruto started, still laughing. The pink haired girl shot him a glare and the boy quickly shut up. Kiba took the same hint, and clamped Ginny's mouth. Hermione and Harry looked in awe as the red head sailed through the air screaming.

"Did you have to hit him that hard?" Harry asked her after a moment.

"Trust me, had she flicked her finger at him, he would've left a deep trail through the ground… she's inhumanely strong." Naruto butt in.

"Thank you for acknowledging my great strength Naruto. Perhaps you'll restrain yourself from doing something stupid so I don't have to pummel you to death." The girl gave a sarcastic smile.

Another pregnant moment.

"YOU GO GIRL!" Ginny and Hermione screamed, giving her a high five.

"I- am um.. ugh, gonna go…" Kiba stumbled over words, picking them carefully and nervously to not anger the cherry child of doom any longer, "SeehowRon'sdoing…" he mumbled all together and ran off.

"That shows them to mess with me!" Sakura smiled, "BY GOD! I cannot believe he had the decency to touch my BOOB in front of EVERYBODY!" for effect she pointed around the entire street.

Hermione sighed, "I knew he sometimes couldn't control himself, but this has gone waaay too far."

Ginny nodded in agreement, "Brother's always been a pervert. Just never thought he'd go all hypnotized. However, I wouldn't put it past him that he did this before."

"Did it ever occur to you women that he was reaching out to Ino and the Slytherin gang? And Sakura just GOT in the way? It was a complete accident." Harry stood up for his best friend. Yes, Harry's reasoning was the actual truth, but Ron still DID touch Sakura's boob and was going to pay for it.

"Did you kill him?" Hermione asked as she put a hand above her eyes to shield the sun out. She stood on her tiptoes to look past the people and saw far at the end of the street a person like mold out of the wall and a redhead lying on the cobblestone.

"Ahh, he'll be fine. I did that SO many times to Naruto, and look, he's still alive!" Sakura smiled, "Plus I'm a medic nin. I can heal him if anything's out of place."

That seemed to reassure the team until Harry spoke, "Yeah, but Naruto had ninja training."

"Trust me," Naruto shuddered, "Once she punches you, you don't have TIME to remember anything you learned. You just know you're flying."

The group laughed a little at that.

"So Flourish and Blotts next?" Naruto asked checking the list.

"Mh!" Sakura said leading the way.

"Shouldn't we wait for Kiba and Ron?" Ginny asked concerned.

"Ah, Kiba will find us. Don't worry!" And with that Naruto and Sakura erupted into a race, Chouji ran off to buy more food, and the three Gryffindors remained to take in all that just happened in the last five minutes. At last, Hermione just shook her head as if she just couldn't bother anymore, and her two friends followed her in step, smiling slightly.

-------------------------------- Flourish and Blotts -----------------------------------

"Why is this place called Flourish and Blotts?" Ino asked looking around at the amazing amount of books. Rows and rows of books devoured the area. The overwhelming amount made the huge book store seem small and cramped and _definitely_ stuffy. Draco looked around for a moment, a blatant expression on his face. He actually never thought about that before.

"Maybe the two people that started the business. Named after them?" Draco was unsure, but it seemed logical.

"Or maybe they were bored and randomly picked words from a dictionary?" Ino gave her own, less logical thought. It did however portray a funny mental image.

"Blotts isn't a word…" Draco's expression went from slightly puzzled to annoyed.

"Eh, worth a try. Anyway, what are we looking for?" She asked, turning around on her heels, giving the place a full inspection. Sasuke, Gaara and Shino had gathered right behind her, dead as ever.

Sasuke unrolled a list and spent a moment looking at it, "School stuff. Fifth year books for class." He said plainly before adding, "I think all we have to do is just go up there and ask for the set of books."

Draco was consumed in thoughts as Ino was in awe, so neither gave a huge reaction when Sasuke spoke. For the third time. That week. All in one day, too. Must be an improvement. Ino shrugged at the thought.

This piece of information hauled Draco back to earth, "Uh, yeah he's right, come on, let's go. This is something we all need."

The five promptly made their way towards the huge long line of wizards, witches, young one and ones older than them.

"Great." Ino huffed, "Just freakin' great."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow as Draco rubbed his temples.

"LOOK AT THIS LINE!" Ino screamed, pointing to it, causing several heads to turn around and look at her. Gaara's sand shot out to cover her mouth. More muffled screams followed before Gaara gave her a silent look as if daring her to muffle another word.

Stupid brats that speak sentences with their eyes. That's all Ino could think.

She knew full well Shikamaru loved how Temari could do that because it saved him the trouble of talking. Leave it to Temari to be bitchy and talk on purpose. Ino muffled a giggle at that point. An evil one, her eyes revealed, and all four males shot her a weird look. She faked a cough. Draco turned his attention away, asking Sasuke about something, who of course replied with hn's. Those could be barely taken for as answers. Shino turned his head slightly. If his eyes were still on her, she had no way of knowing. However, Gaara light green eyes pierced through her sapphire ones. Narrowing. As if trying to figure out why she had given that evil laugh.

While Gaara and Ino were in a staring contest, Draco, Shino and Sasuke took their respective books. The man behind the counter shrunk them all so they would be easier to carry. Sasuke took Gaara's and Draco took Ino's.

"Another round of sand diapers then," Ino could've sworn she saw a glint in the ex-murderers eyes as he said that causing her to thrash around and moan repeatedly. Gaara gave a small homicidal smile.

And at that very moment, a huge monstrous book fell on her head. What was really scary was how it started to thrash around. Ino looked positively petrified and outright scared, causing everyone there, besides Shino of course, to laugh.

"Wow," Sasuke said after a moment, "I haven't laughed like that since Karin threatened to turn Suigetsu's sword into fish food and feed it to the sea."

Ino gave him a death glare. The sand kept her from giving a smart retort to that.

"Or the time Naruto drank bad milk and spent the entire day in the bathroom. Haha, he also created Kage Bunshins and they were fighting with each other on who'd get to the bathroom first. What an idiot." Sasuke was still laughing slightly.

"We have different spell names in Japan because it's hard for us to pronounce Latin." Gaara explained Draco's confused look at the "Kage Bunshins."

"Or the time Temari dragged Shikamaru shopping and threatened to bind him and then put make up on him if he didn't help her with her bags. I believe it was face paint. Shikamaru paled at thinking soon he'd look like Kankuro." Gaara suppressed his own laugh.

Shino stayed emotionless as ever.

"IM SORRY!" a yell came from the upstairs portion of the bookstore.

The redhead twins popped over the wooden railing, "The book got out of my hand." However, he was smiling, so something was nagging Ino that they did this on purpose…or were just laughing at her reaction…and the state of her hair at this point.

"Oh, Weasel twins." Draco's face turned ice cold.

Automatically noticing the tensions, Sasuke and Gaara stopped laughing.

"Malfoy…" the other twin narrowed his eyes.

"Poor, undeserving blood traitors like yourselves are actually buying something…_new_?" Draco drawled out, smirking.

"Why you self centered egotistical git – " … but the twins were cut off from talking hearing an all too familiar voice.

"George, he's not worth it! You're just wasting valuable breath on the ferret." The bushy haired girl made an appearance and scowled down at the blonde boy. Hands crossed across their chests, Gaara, Sasuke and Shino looked straight ahead, not bothering.

"Oh, look, it's the mudblood. Listen to her Weasel twins, at least she's not as stupid as you."

Hermione fought back tears, but dignantly raised her head and stalked off. Ino fought against the sand to catch a grip on what was going on. Their last two encounters…were funny. The fight outside of Madam Malkins…and her stunning Draco with a curse, then dragging him out of Olivanders; they were…they really were funny. But even without the sand covering her mouth, Ino felt the deep hatred that was very much existent between Gryffindors and Slytherins. And this time, it would've been awkward to say something funny. No one would've laughed. Gaara's sand finally released her, and the minute she could speak, Ino tugged on Draco's sleeve.

"Come on!" she whispered, rather hurriedly, "Let's just go. We don't want a fight."

However Draco took no heed, and more insults flew from his mouth. Ino knew that the Weasleys knew exactly who she and the rest were, so she sent an apologetic look up at them. With eye movement (she had to thank Gaara later for teaching her indirectly how to do this) she begged the two to leave before a real fight broke out. Something definitely NOT needed. Not now, not ever.

The two twins heeded her warning, and just turned around. Sobs could be heard and she only could guess they were coming from Hermione, as Draco had just called her a mudblood. She tugged on Draco's sleeve once more, but the boy made no movement. Not wanting to let on her great strength, she gave the boys a look, and Sasuke dragged him out of the store. Of course, the dragging had taken Draco off guard who started to thrash about. Outside, in the blaring sun, Draco just looked at them.

"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT FOR!?"

"No fighting." Was Sasuke's answer.

"You really don't want us to get involved." Gaara added.

A bug started to fly in front of Shino and under the huge sunlight, Draco could vaguely see the boy's eyes narrow, "Ever."

"What is WRONG with you!?" Draco said after a moment, "They're the enemy!"

Ino sighed, "But any magic outside of school…and…" she trailed off.

"Oh, bullocks!" Draco screamed, "I just don't seem to get you. Sasuke you seem to hate Naruto as much as I hate _Golden Trio_," he mocked, "Gaara, you seem to hate everyone. Shino…" Draco skipped Shino, "Ino…you and Sakura… I JUST DON'T GET YOU PEOPLE!"

"We'll fight when the time comes. Let's just go now, I'm hungry." Sasuke said.

Gaara gave a nod, and Ino followed.

Shino made sure Draco was in front of him before walking after the four people.

000

Inside, Hermione was crying her eyes out. She had heard Malfoy say that word so many times, but it still had the same stinging effect it had the first time she heard it. Sakura and Ginny were bent around her, consoling her, while Naruto and Kiba were talking to the Weasley brothers and Harry. Since Chouji was no where to be seen, they guessed he went to get food.

"- yeah so Ino just gave me a glare, and we backed down." Fred finished retelling the events of what had just occurred.

Naruto sighed and slumped down against a bookshelf. Kiba was next to him, petting Akamaru, deep in thought.

"Now what?" George asked, "You can't expect us to not land ONE punch on him after he insults Hermione like that!"

"YEAH!" Ron interjected.

"Actually, we'll have to…" Harry said, "If everything is to go as planned, physical fighting and dueling have to be kept minimum to zero. We can't risk having to force Naruto and Kiba to actually stop a fight. The pummeling that happened in front of Madam Malkins was … a mock fight of how to NOT fight. Their fighting would reveal who they really are. If I want to kill Voldemort…if we want to win this…then we'll just going to have to listen to them!"

Kiba nodded, "If you won't listen to us, at least listen to Harry."

After a moment of silence, the Weasely brothers nodded.

"Good, now come on, let's get out of here. I'm hungry!" Naruto said with a sheepish grin as his stomach turned in on itself.

This caused the tension to slightly ease up as they cracked a smile.

"I'll go find Chouji!" Kiba said before vanishing.

"HE'S GONE!?" Fred couldn't believe it.

"Only Ino can keep him off food and she's in a different team." Naruto sighed, shaking his head.

"Let's go get the girls," Naruto smiled before staring to clutch his stomach, "I'M STARVED!!!!"

Everyone laughed. And even though the tensions entirely ceases, Naruto and Harry still had something nagging them. Something still wasn't right. It was out of place. But to keep their companions happy, both forced smiles.

~~~....da end :D ~~~

Author's Note: Kudos to my beta, my best friend :P He had a hard time editing this…I can BET! Seventeen pages is hard to beta read when its written in small font size. Please review, it means the world to me!

I love you all! See you in Diagon Alley part 2…which I'll TRY and keep slightly shorter! I'll consult my amazing beta on which two teams to use…so it doesn't get overly repetitive.

PLEASE review…it gets you brownie points :D!

*stuffs cookies into the reader's mouth and runs off*

JA NE!


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